


Falling Apart

by overrated_joe



Series: Sometimes It's Better to Take What's Given to You [1]
Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Blood and Gore, Friendship, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Male Frisk, Older Frisk, Post-Undertale Neutral Route - Empress Undyne Ending, Spoilers - Undertale Neutral Route, Violence, War
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-20
Updated: 2017-03-20
Packaged: 2018-08-11 02:16:59
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 6
Words: 25,448
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7871956
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/overrated_joe/pseuds/overrated_joe
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Six years after Frisk's journey in the Underground, the monsters break free from the barrier. And they are starting a second war against humanity.</p><p>(This is a revised, updated version of the original fic that was posted in August, 2016.)</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Prologue: Phone Call

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As of March 20th, this work has gone through a major revision to fix its structure and make it more coherent with the rest of the series. The original, outdated version can be found in my Tumblr, under the "Fanfiction Archive" section – link on my profile page here on AO3!  
> Hope you enjoy!

He was back to the Underground. He didn’t know how, he didn’t know why, he just... _was_. Like it was fate – it was meant to be.

“ _heya... is anyone there..?_ ”

He didn’t want to – the Underground was full of painful memories he’d rather to remain buried deep into his past. And yet, he always knew that day would come – the day he’d have to face his mistakes.

_“since you left, things down here have been different...”_

He was in the Ruins... the very first section of the Underground. Those purple walls were too characteristical for him to mistake it, but the place had changed. In the past, it was well-lit with torches and kept tidy, but now... now it really seemed like real ruins, and that gave him an uncomfortable feeling on the pit of his stomach.

Something wasn’t right.

_“with asgore gone, undyne became the ruler of the underground.”_

He gave a step forward, and it felt... strange. Floaty. Like his body didn’t exist. His vision also had some sort of impairment – all hazy and distorted, but he carried on. He needed to reach the exit; he had to get out of that place.

_“HEY! UNDYNE’S THE EMPRESS NOW! IT’S AMAZING!”_

He wasn’t welcome in there; being back to the Underground only meant danger. He tried to remember, once again, how did he get there, but couldn’t. The pieces just weren’t fitting.

_“and since the human souls disappeared, undyne’s also looking for a new way to break the barrier.”_

Finally, he reached a different place – a round chamber of sorts with a bed of golden flowers in the middle, bathed by the sunlight that entered through cracks in the mountain.

_“and when she does, she is going to wage war on humanity...”_

There was someone in the middle of the bed of flowers, crouched down, probably arranging them. His heart leaped when he saw them – it had been so long since he had last seen them, and he felt pain, and guilt, and a lot of other things he couldn’t exactly translate into words.

They seemed to notice he was approaching, because they stood up and turned around.

“ _she says the first thing she is gonna do after we get out of here... is take her army... and personally hunt you down and destroy you.”_

...

...

...

...

...

...


	2. Rabbit Hole

There was a feeling of uneasiness in the air when Frisk woke up that morning.

Maybe it was related to the dream he just had, although he couldn’t recall exactly what it was. Something to do with talking to the phone, but it was more than that – like remembering a memory he had long forgotten.

And then it hit him. Oh, right – _that_.

He rolled to the side of his bed and looked under it, picking up a box he kept there. Scratching his eyes and yawning, he lazily sat on the bed with the box on his lap, being careful not to wake the others in the room. It would soon be time to wake up and get going anyway, so there was no point in trying to get back to sleep. 

It was inside that box where he kept his belongings. Not that there were many of them: a broken yo-yo, a cheap action figure of a superhero, a lighter, a razor and, what he was looking for, a cellphone.

It certainly didn’t look like any other cellphone he had ever seen – a fairly old model fixed to have modern functions like touch screen and camera. It ended up looking like a mess in the process: old and new didn’t mix up well aesthetically – Frisk compared it to an adult trying to look like a teenager.

Almost unconsciously, he tried to turn it on – to no avail. The dark screen didn’t lit up, and he just kept staring at his own reflection on it. His tired expression stared back, far too serious for a teenager, even after waking up. Frustrated, he sighed before putting the phone away in the box.

Every time he remembered that day, he would find himself trying to power that weird phone on. He had even managed to sneak in several rechargers – always taking care not to be spotted, as cellphones were prohibited, and the other kids would totally freak out if they saw one –, but it never worked when he tried to recharge it. He figured, a long time ago, it must had broken.

He always remembered the last time it was working, though. One day, he snuck out from the place, and wandered around Mt. Ebott, that legendary mountain which was said to be cursed: those who went there never returned. His curiosity, allied with clumsiness, made him trip and fall on a hole in one of its caverns.

There, he found the Underground, a place where all sorts of monsters were trapped. So the legends of old were true, after all.

Saying it like that, it sounds like a scary place, but Frisk knew that couldn’t be farther from the truth. Almost all monsters he met were really nice and kind. Still... his memories of his journey down there weren’t totally happy. He always felt it. The guilt. The remorse.

He had made terrible mistakes.

He managed to escape the Underground, and some weeks after that, he received a call from a couple of monsters he had befriended. They didn’t tell him good news – if anything, the place had a dark future ahead. And, just after that, the phone shut down to never turn on again.

Needless to say, Frisk was never the same after that strange experience. He didn’t know what to believe anymore. He didn’t know if his journey in the Underground had been real, or if he had just imagined it. As time passed, he settled that it must have been something from his head, that he had just imagined it – but even then, he would keep checking the phone to see if it turned on to give more reliable proof of what happened that day.

And, just like that, six years had gone by. Six years had passed since that fateful day.

* * *

 

“Mr. Frisk, if you would come to my office please.”

Frisk looked up from the book he was reading – _Alice in Wonderland_ , by Lewis Carroll. He read that book countless times, but it never bored him – it was, by far, his favorite book, and he always kept coming back to re-read it one more time.

Mrs. Magda was looking at him, and made a movement with her head in a sign for him to stand up. She was a middle-aged woman, her hair tied in a bun, big glasses, and wore a plain beige dress. He stood up and followed her.

It was a beautiful day – flowers were blooming, birds were singing. The younger kids were outside, playing. Passing by them, Frisk couldn’t help but feel a bit of jealously – he had never made any friends in this place. All the kids out there were orphans, like he was, but they had each other to play, talk, and just... be happy. Not Frisk, though – nobody had ever approached him, and he attributed that fact to his somewhat antissocial behavior. At this point, he was more than used to it, but still...

Before he could dwell on that matter much longer, they were already inside Mrs. Magda’s office – a small, but neatly tidy room. Drawers containing hundreds of files were against the walls, and a desk with two chairs were in the middle. She sat in the chair behind her desk and made a sign for Frisk to sit on the other. He obeyed, not before noticing there was on open file on the top of the desk, next to an obnoxiously old computer. _His_  file.

“Well, Mr. Frisk, first of all: I’d like to clear out an issue with you.”, began Mrs. Magda. “Some children reported seeing you sneaking cigarettes to the orphanage.”

“What!?”, said Frisk, genuinely surprised. “Who said that?”

“I’m afraid I cannot share this information with you.”

“Oh, come on!”, he replied, frustrated. “I did it once, almost a year ago. I wouldn’t do it again.”

Mrs. Magda just kept staring at Frisk, trying to find something he knew she wouldn’t find. He _was_ telling the one and only truth, for once.

“Besides,” he continued, “I quit for good. Honest.”

“In the lack of any evidence, I suppose I will have to give you the benefit of doubt. But if I discover you are lying, things  _will_  get bad for you.” Mrs. Magda adjusted her bun, and looked to his file. “This house won’t tolerate the use of drugs, Mr. Frisk.”

Frisk bit his tongue – if there was something he couldn’t stand in that world, it was being wrongly accused of doing something. However, he didn’t say anything, because there was nothing to gain from annoying Mrs. Magda, the diretor of the town’s orphanage.

“Is that it? Just some baseless accusation? Can I go now?” Frisk made motion to stand up, but Mrs. Magda showed her palm in a sign for him to stop.

“Just wait a moment. There is another matter I wish to discuss with you.” She leaned against her chair. “As you must be aware, Mr. Frisk, you are 16 now, turning 17 later this year. This means the next year you turn 18. Which is the day you will have to leave the orphanage.”

Frisk avoided eye contact when he replied.

“Really? That’s a shame.”

“You might not be fond of this house, but I assure you.”, she sat upright, holding her hands together, resting them in the desk in front of her. “The world out there is much,  _much_  more unforgiving. Specially if you don’t prepare. So, I suggest you go get a job to earn some money, so by the time you leave, you can be a bit prepared.”

Frisk met her gaze. Her expression was... neutral, like she was saying that because she had to. It was the protocol, after all.

“How am I supposed to get a job, now?”, he asked, trying not to sound disrespectful.

Mrs. Magda gave him a patient smile.

“That’s not our problem, Mr. Frisk.”

Silence fell between the two – Frisk had some trouble understanding the situation.

“Are you serious?”, he asked, the hint of annoyance in his voice more hearable this time.

“It is hard enough to deal with the children here. We can’t support those who could otherwise sustain themselves.”

Frisk put his hand on his face and sighed – that was too much to think about and he definetely wasn’t prepared for it.

“Ok, I’ll get a job.”, he said, his voice full of sarcasm. “Maybe when I leave I’ll have enough money to rent a room for, say, four months. Five, if I get a _real_ good job.”

“Better start now, then, right?”

“I guess.”, Frisk said, standing up. “Can I leave?”

“Please.”

He turned around and made his way out of the office – he wasn’t happy to notice his hands were shaking a bit. He’d prefer to think it was because he was angry and revolted with that whole conversation.

But probably he was just scared.

* * *

 

Part of him was excited with the perspective of leaving the orphanage for good – he _hated_ that place. He’d run away countless times, even after his adventure in the Underground – the only difference being he preferred to stay away from Mt. Ebott since then.

However, there was no denying it – he was mostly scared. He didn’t have any friends and he was always alone, but in the orphanage he had a bed and meals. Maybe the meals were more often bad than they were good, and the bed was only slightly more comfortable than the floor, but even then, that was more than a lot of people ever had. He knew that.

What would he do? Get a job? Who would hire him? He was a mess.

Frisk thought for a moment how these circumstances made people go to the underworld of crime. Quick, easy money, it was tempting. But he was determined not to give in to that. He was never, ever going to let the circumstances shape what kind of person he was  _again_.

He was sat alone in the dormitory. It was already nighttime, but nobody else was in the room because they were dining – Frisk had finished his dinner quickly to read his book with some peace and quiet, though now he was just lost in thoughts. He gazed through the window to look at Mt. Ebott – and it stood there, imponent, daring, challenging like it had always been.

Then, his thoughts wandered to the first person that actually offered their hand to help him. A person that not only did that, but also offered something more: love. And perhaps safety too. A person that, ironically, wasn’t technically a person at all, yet was more kind than most human beings Frisk knew.

A person that was now dead because of him. He looked at his hands, almost feeling the dust in them.

No. It wasn’t real, right? So, as far as he knew, he was guilty of nothing.

But then, why did he feel so bad?

The door opened and some boys, from all ages, came through. Some of them were chatting, some were laughing, some were quiet and serious. Frisk sighed. It would soon be time to turn in, so he picked up his book and continued his reading.

* * *

 

_“Ugh... you are stronger than I thought.”_

_Frisk realized, too late, he had done a terrible thing._

_“Listen to me, small one...”, said Toriel in a sad tone._

_Why? Why had he done it? She wasn’t even trying to hit him anymore with her magic. He just panicked. When he realized, he hit her harder than he intended._

_“If you go beyond his door...”, Toriel kneeled, unable to keep standing up. “Keep walking as far as you can.”_

_No... why had he wanted to leave so badly? Why couldn’t he stay? Why couldn’t he do anything right?_

_“Eventually you will reach an exit.”_

_She gasped, struggling to not collapse on the floor. Frisk now had tears on his eyes. He felt weird, in a way he hadn’t felt in a long time. He tried to say he was sorry, but his voice was gone. Toriel breathed heavily for a while before continuing._

_“As-Asgore... Do not... do not let him... take your... soul...”, her voice was now shaking, as if every word was a fight for it to come out._

_Frisk looked down. He knew what he had done – he had seen it before. He had promised not to do it again, but he failed._

_He couldn’t handle it._

_“His... plan... cannot... be allowed to... succeed...”, said Toriel, with every word her voice getting weaker and weaker._

_How could he live on with what he’d done?_

_“Be good... won’t you?”_

_Frisk looked up. Toriel’s whole body was shaking now, pieces of dust were already on the floor around her. Her face looked like it was melting, but she still managed to smile._

_Oh no. No no no no no no no no no no..!_

_“M... m... my... ch-ch... child...”_

_Her body then crumbled into a pile of white dust. Frisk dropped on his knees, and cried, like he hadn’t ever cried before. He felt sad, alone, devastated. He felt a lot of things._

_He didn’t feel very determined._  

* * *

 

Frisk woke up with a loud noise coming from outside – like an explosion not very far from the orphanage.

He was sweating, his clothes all stuck to his body. He hadn’t bothered to change to pajamas.

Another explosion, this time accompanied by various zapping sounds. Those ones sounded distant, although not much.

The other kids started to wake up as well because of it.

“Ugh, what is going on?”

“What time is it?”

“I’m sleepy...”

 _BOOM_!

The third was the loudest explosion of them all – and in the moment it happened, all the lights on the streets went off. What little light had been coming through the windows was now non-existent. The room felt truly dark.

Everybody stopped talking. Some of the younger kids started to cry softly, scared.

Frisk walked towards one of the windows and opened the curtains.

He couldn’t believe it.

The whole city was engulfed by darkness – but, not very far away there was a very bright spot. Tones of red, orange, blue and green were swirling around it.

It was unmistakable – Frisk had seen it before. The zapping sounds were familiar too.

Magic. _Hazardous_ magic.

The top of Mt. Ebott was under a magic fire, and Frisk could see the shadows of monsters coming down from it.


	3. Dust and Blood

It was hell.

The orphanage had been evacuated, but the kids ran away and got dispersed in the process.

Frisk was in the middle of the street. People were screaming. Monsters were running among them, attacking – some of them wore a special armor, which Frisk immediately recognized as the Royal Guard’s armor, albeit modified to be sturdier.

Frisk ran aimlessly, trying to get to safety, but no place seemed to be safe. Harmful magic buzzed around. He saw people collapsed on the streets, some of them with bloodstains on their clothes.

The evening had started out peacefully, but within minutes after the first explosion the monsters had reached the city, spreading chaos. Frisk kneeled besides an abandoned car – he didn’t know where to go or what to do. From a distance, he saw a group of armored Snowdrakes ganging up on a couple of humans.

What had happened? Frisk was attacked by Snowdrakes back when he was in the Underground, but this was different. Their attacks were more fierce and unstoppable – they weren’t intending on leaving open space for the humans to counterattack.

They were intending to do harm.

They were intending to _kill_.

And it felt like _war_.

Shocked, Frisk took way too long to notice the group of Froggits and Vulkins approaching him from behind. He looked at them, hoping they wouldn’t do anything.

One of the Vulkins spilt a jet of lava towards him. Frisk dodged just in time, and it hit the car instead. The place where it hit was melting fast, and the lava left a hole on it.

Before he could get up, the Froggits started bashing on him, bruising and keeping him in the ground. It hurt a lot; the heavy armors made the attacks hurt even more. He saw the Vulkins prepare another attack. If it hit, Frisk knew he wouldn’t survive.

Suddenly, he heard gunshots, and in his panicked state Frisk thought someone was shooting at him.

“Retreat!”, screamed one of the Vulkins, and the monsters backed away, but one of the Froggits was caught by the shooter and turned to dust, pieces of their armor falling over it.

Frisk got up, utterly shocked and slightly nauseated. He looked around to see who had saved him. A few feet away, a middle-aged man held a machine gun and was coming towards him.

“Hey kid, you okay?”

Frisk tried to speak, but his voice seemed to be gone.

“Okay, you are in shock. I don’t understand what the hell is going on either, but we need to get out of...”

Before the man could finish his sentence, magic flew just above their heads and hit hard on a nearby building, leaving a fire on the spot. More destructive magic flew towards them, causing nearby explosions.

“Shit! Run, RUN!”

Frisk was already running; the man was not besides him anymore. He noticed he was in the middle of a crossfire. Gunshots could be heard, which meant humans were fighting back. Dust and blood mixed on the streats.

It smelled like death.

An explosive spell hit the ground just behind Frisk, knocking him down. He saw monsters and humans running. He heard screams. Some people were hit by spells and fell to the ground, limp.

He couldn’t stand up – his arms and legs were shaking too hard. His breath was rapid and shallow and he felt sick. Was he gonna die there?

Maybe it was only right – again, he knew what was happening.

It was all _his_ fault. He deserved it.

But, despite everything, Frisk stood up. He didn’t want to die. He  _wasn’t_ going to die.

He ran towards an abandoned building closest to him.

* * *

 

If not for the screaming, the constant noise of magic buzzing outside and the sounds of gunshots, Frisk could be sleeping.

He lay on the floor, tired, but he didn’t dare to let himself sleep. The battle was still on full force outside, and someone could easily enter the building to kill him, or the building could just come crashing down if a well aimed explosive spell hit it. Either way, things were not looking too good.

He wished he could do more – but then, what would he do? Would he fight the monsters? Would he kill them?

“ _I knew you had it in you._ ”, familiar words echoed in his head. Frisk pushed them away.

“Stupid weed.”, he mumbled.

He noticed his breathing was fast. He was full of adrenaline, even if he was laying down. It hurt. _Everything_ hurt. His face and arms were full of bruises, nothing too serious, but it made him feel sore.

A buzzing sound, an explosion, and the whole building shook. Some shelves on the walls broke, and things on the tables fell to the ground. Glass shattered around him.

“Oh,  _god_.”

Fortunately, the building resisted. Frisk closed his eyes, futilely trying to ignore the noises from outside.

Sometimes, he would almost fall asleep, but would wake alert just before it. He had to stay awake. He had to stay alive.

He didn’t know how much time passed, but he could see the day coming up from the windows, and the noise from the battle starting to die out. He doubted the humans had been all killed, but didn’t think the monsters were giving up either.

And that was just so, so _weird_. Frisk knew humans had more powerful souls than monsters – that was their unfair advantage that explained why they won the first war and the monsters were sealed in the Underground on the first place. But now, things seemed more even to both sides – had monsters grown stronger while humans grew weaker?

No, that couldn’t be the answer. How could that explain so much destruction and death in the span of a few hours?

Now that everything was quiet, he was slowly drafting towards sleep.

* * *

 

_Frisk blocked one more wave of spears being thrown at him. They were pointy and dangerous – it was taking all his concentration not being hit by even one of them. He couldn’t move from his spot, but that showed not to be a problem._

_It was weird, but the way to block was to face them. He shouted and screamed, pleading for mercy, but Undyne wasn’t hearing. She was talking about how his soul would free the monsters, and how they would take the surface back._

_“Please!”, screamed Frisk, “I don’t want to fight! I... just want to be friends..!_

_Somehow, this seemed to get through Undyne. She hesitated before her next attack, and Frisk could feel the spell she had cast on him wearing off. It was his chance._

_He ran past her, and she tried to hit him with the spear, but Frisk managed to dodge it and kept running as fast as he could._

_“HEY, PUNK!”, screamed Undyne. “NOT FAIR! COME BACK HERE, YOU COWARD!”_

_Frisk ignored and kept running. “Just want to be friends?” Why did he say that? She was trying to kill him, that didn’t make any sense. Besides, he didn’t have any friends, he didn’t know what he was talking about._

_Well... actually, he could say he had two friends now: two skeleton brothers he met back at Snowdin. They were a bit weird – one of them loved making puns and jokes, and had a taste for whoopee cushion pranks, and the other thought Frisk was madly in love with them before putting him on the “friendzone”. But they were kind. They managed to make Frisk laugh when he was utterly broken. They restored his determination._

_Somehow, Frisk was smiling, even with a furious Undyne on his track._

_“STOP RUNNING!”, she shouted._

_He felt his cellphone ringing and buzzing in his pocket, and picked it up, still running. He knew it could only be one person... or monster._

_“Hi, Papyrus!”, answered Frisk, panting._

_“OH, HELLO HUMAN!”, said Papyrus cheerfully. “WELL, I WAS THINKING. I HAVE THIS OTHER FRIEND. UNDYNE’S HER NAME. SHE’S REALLY COOL. WE SHOULD ALL HANG OUT TOGETHER SOMETIME!”_

_Frisk felt a bit awkward – how would he reply to that? How would he tell that he actually knew Undyne, and they weren’t really close to being friends in the moment._

_“Um... sounds lovely.”_

_“YIPEE!”, shouted Papyrus, happy. “I MEAN, OF COURSE, HUMAN!”, he added in a more moderated tone. “I WILL THINK OF A LOT OF FUN ACTIVITIES WE CAN ALL DO. WE CAN COOK SPAGHETTI! AND PLAY FIGHT! OOOH, MAYBE A SLEEPOVER?”_

_They were clearly excited. Frisk glanced over his shoulder. Undyne was still running and had a maniac look on her face._

_“I’M SURE YOU AND UNDYNE WILL BE GREAT PALS!”, Papyrus continued over the phone._

_A spear passed by Frisk’s side, missing him by milimetres. He heard the whooshing sound it made before it hit the ground feet away._  

_“Yeah, I’m sure of it. Talk to you later, Papyrus.”_

_“SEE YOU AROUND HUMAN! NYEH HEH HEH!”, and with that, Papyrus hung up._  

_Frisk pocketed his phone, and somehow increased his speed at running. Suddenly, he was at another area, this one boiling. The ground was made of something that looked like orange dirt, but he wasn’t sure. Pipes with steam coming from them hanged by the sides._

_Just ahead, he saw a sentry post. Oh, that was bad – there was someone there. They would most definitely not allow him to pass._  

_Wait..._

_The figure at the sentry post wasn’t moving. In fact, it looked like it was sleeping..? Frisk just passed by them, and they didn’t move._

_He wasn’t sure, but he thought the monster at the sentry was wearing a blue hoodie. No way... was that..?_

_“SANS, WHAT ARE YOU DOING!?”, Frisk heard Undyne screaming. “A HUMAN JUST PASSED BY! GET YOUR LAZY BONES UP HERE AND HELP ME CAPTURE...”, she stopped for a moment, and Frisk thought Sans was saying something. “OH NO, YOU DIDN’T DO THAT! DO YOU THINK YOU CAN JOKE YOURSELF OUT OF THIS!? FORGET IT, I’LL JUST GO GET THEM MYSELF!”_

_Frisk looked behind, and Undyne was back at running after him. He kept going, but realized she seemed to be having difficulty even at walking in that place._

_“Armor... too... hot...”, said Undyne, panting heavily. “Must... keep... going...”_

_She collapsed on the ground. Frisk looked behind. Oh, well, she should have known better. Fishes were more at home in water, after all._

_He turned around and kept going, now just walking as his life wasn’t in danger anymore._

* * *

 

When Frisk woke up, he felt like only minutes had passed.

It took him a while, and a good look across the wrecked room he was in, to remember what had been going on. The monsters broke down the barrier on Mt. Ebott, somehow, and were starting a war against the humanity.

And Frisk just had a good idea of who the leader could be.

He stood up, almost every part of his body aching, which didn’t come as a surprise as he had bruises all over his arms and legs. Also, the fact that the floor wasn’t a very comfortable place to sleep on didn’t help his situation – but despite all that, he considered himself lucky just to be alive.

Exiting the apartment he was in, he noticed a hole by the end of the corridor – that must have been where that explosive spell he heard last night hit. As he was on the ground floor, he figured it would be better to exit through the hole rather than the front door – he didn’t want to be surprised by an ambush or something like that.

He found himself in an alleyway, and looked to his left – the street was just up there.

His heart leaped inside his chest when he caught – or _thought_ he caught – a glimpse of a shadow looking at him, but quickly disappearing by the corner when it noticed Frisk was looking.

It looked oddly familiar.

“Hey, wait!”, shouted Frisk, running towards the street, but before he reached it, he heard a whooshing sound. When he got to where the figure had been, nobody was there.

There was no way that was the one he was thinking. But... he thought he saw something blue. Maybe, just maybe..?

The town was completely silent, and the sky was overcast, the gray clouds covering every inch of it. After all the screaming and buzzing, Frisk thought silence would be welcome, but instead it only gave him a growing sensation of dread. Everything felt so broken. So sterile. So _dead_.

He could see spots of blood and dust in the ground, but there were no human corpses around, which struck Frisk as odd. Not that he was actually _wanting_ to see corpses, but he was sure people had been killed. Where were they?

He walked around the streets, trying to find someone – anyone, he just didn’t want to be alone. The hair on his back was standing and he felt he was being followed.

But every time he looked behind his shoulder, there was no one there.

His mind wandered for a moment. What happened to the monsters? Had all of them been killed? Had they retreated back to the Underground? Had they just left the city and went ahead to the next one, to cause more destruction?

Frisk had the feeling the last hypothesis was the right one and hoped, with all his heart, he was wrong.

For some reason, he found himself back in front of the orphanage he lived in.

It was completely destroyed – the place was probably hit by too many attack spells and couldn’t stand it. Maybe it was caught in a crossfire; Frisk had seen other destroyed houses, shops and buildings.

He didn’t feel sad – he hated that place – but he couldn’t help but feel a bit of worry with the other children – specially the younger ones. Had they escaped? Were they together, scared for life, trying to understand what was going on?

Were they dead?

Before he could wonder more, he heard footsteps. His body tensed up as he searched for the source of the noise – it turned out it came from a nearby street.

The footsteps echoed through the ghost town – everything was so silent, this sound was almost too loud.

The person that showed up was the last one Frisk thought that he would meet in a situation like this.

“ _Frisk_?”, said Mrs. Magda.

The whole situation seemed to have forced Mrs. Magda to change. Her hair was now without its bun, and it was messy all over her face. The beige dress she usually wore was dirty and ripped in different places. She was full of bruises, just like him, and wasn’t wearing any footwear.

“Mrs. Magda.” he simply replied.

“How are you  _alive_?”, she asked. “Oh my god...”

She was looking at what had remained of the orphanage. She looked devastated, and Frisk actually felt bad for her.

“The children, do you think..?”

“I’m... not sure.”

Mrs. Magda looked like she was about to cry. This was too weird. Was it possible she actually cared for the kids that once lived there?

“I... I...”, she tried to speak, but seemed to be at loss for words. “What _happened_? What were those things?”

“Monsters.”, replied Frisk, looking to the ground. He couldn’t stand to look at her so desperate. “They lived in the underground. At Mt. Ebott.”

She blinked a few times.

“Like... like those childish legends? Of the war that happened many years ago?”

Frisk nodded.

“They are all true.”

“But...”

“And they’ve come for revenge. They want to take the surface back.”

And it was all Frisk’s fault, but he didn’t say that out loud.

“How do you know that?”

Frisk opened his mouth to speak, but closed it again. How would he explain the little, tragic adventure he had when he fell to the Underground six years before?

“A-anyway...”, she said, noticing Frisk wouldn’t speak. “I can’t believe I’m saying this, but I’m glad I’ve found you. You are the only other live person from the orphanage I’ve encountered now.”

He was actually glad he had found her too. He didn’t know if he would stand being alone in that town, now a mere shadow of what it once was.

“We should stick together and find help.”, said Frisk.

“Right. We can... we can find a car here. Then we can go to another city and... and...”

It all happened too fast.

Frisk caught a glimpse of something behind Mrs. Magda. A loud sound, and then she stopped speaking, a silent scream stuck in her throat.

A spear had pierced through her back, exiting through her chest. Drops of blood spilled at Frisk’s shirt.

The spear had a glowing orange tone, and it disappeared shortly after, it’s magic quickly dissolving. Mrs. Magda stumbled forward and fell, trying to grab Frisk’s shirt in the process and leaving blood marks on it.

She looked to his face, her eyes wide with shock and terror, before her body became limp. She was dead.

Time seemed to slow down while Frisk’s brain attempted to process what just happened. He had the vague notion his body was shaking and his breath had become erratic. He looked at his hands, Mrs. Magda’s blood in them.

Fresh. Wet. Red. _Real_.

He fell to his knees, in pure shock.

Looking up, he saw the assassin standing a few feet away.

“You..!”, was the only thing Frisk managed to say.

* * *

 

_“Yo... I... I hate your guts!”_

_Frisk just looked at the monster kid’s face. He didn’t feel threatened or hurt at all – and it didn’t help the monster was actually smiling when they said that. They were looking at Frisk with a look that seemed of half-expectation, which only left the human even more unsure of how to react._

_“Man... I’m... I’m such a turd.”_

_They looked away. Frisk wanted to say something – anything – but didn’t find any words._  

_“I’m... gonna go home now...”, and with that, the monster kid started to walk away._

_Frisk knew it – the bridge had a misplaced piece, which made it easy to trip and fall._

_“W-wait!”, warned Frisk. “Careful... the bridge..!”_

_“What?”, they asked, before tripping at that very misplaced spot and falling to the side of the bridge. “Wooooaaaaaah!”_

_“No!”, screamed Frisk._

_Fortunately, the monster kid had grabbed the ledge of a pillar that sustained the bridge using their mouth, since they had no arms._  

_“Mmmmnngghhh! Mnngh mngh mnnnnnggghh!”_

_They were trying to say something, but Frisk couldn’t make any of it. He made a motion to go help when he saw her._

_Undyne._

_She was standing on the other side of the bridge, full armor, walking slowly towards Frisk. He hesitated. If Undyne caught him, he was as good as dead._

_“Mmmngh mngh mmmmmmmnggggghhhhh!”_

_Undyne stopped in her tracks._

_In that one second that passed, Frisk considered his options – he could run away and save his life, or he could help the monster kid and possibly risk being captured (or, most likely, killed)._

_Making a snap decision, he ran to yellow monster’s side and grabbed their head, pulling them to safety. It was surprisingly easy; that kid didn’t weight much._

_“Are you okay?”, asked Frisk._

_The monster kid spit a bit, small pieces of rock from the pillar still in their mouth._

_“Y-yeah... I...”_

_Before Frisk noticed, Undyne was imposingly standing in front of the two children._

_However, the monster kid just stood up and looked straight in her eyes – which were only half-concealed by the helmet she wore._

_“Y... yo... d-dude... if you wanna hurt my friend... you are gonna have to g-get through me first!”_

_They were shaking in fear, but didn’t back out. Instead, Undyne was the one who retreated, confused, and disappeared in the distance._

_“W-whew... that was a close one... heheh.” The monster kid turned around to face Frisk. “Thanks a lot, dude... If you hadn’t...”_

_“Don’t mention it. Just... go home, okay? Your parents must be worried.”_

_“Yeah... um... you should go home too!”, they said, before turning around and walking away again. “Later, dude!”_

_As the monster kid walked away, Frisk smiled. He felt slightly proud at himself – he had done something good, for once._

_“Heh... later.”_  

* * *

 

Frisk knew it was them. Six years had passed, but it was unmistakable.

He looked at the reptilian yellow monster. They were wearing the same armor Frisk saw other monsters using, although theirs was adapted since the wearer had no arms. The helmet was also larger to fit the monster’s rather large head.

He couldn’t believe it. The monster kid he once helped in the Underground, now a killer.

“Did  _you_  do this!?”, shouted Frisk, surprised by how angry he sounded.

The monster didn’t reply. They looked at loss for words, opening their mouth and closing again. Then, their gaze fixed on something behind Frisk.

He heard her voice before he could turn around.

“Good job finding him, MK! I’ll make sure you get a raise once we take the surface back! For now, leave him to me.”

The once monster kid looked back at Frisk, gulping. Then, they turned around and ran away, disappearing at the corner of a street.

“Coward.”, mumbled Frisk.

“Hey! Aren’t you gonna compliment an old enemy, punk?”

Frisk slowly turned around, already knowing who was talking to him – that voice, that manner of speaking, were imprinted on his mind, even if six years had passed since he last saw them.

“Undyne.”, he said.

They looked at each other for a while. For all the time since Frisk fell the hole at Mt. Ebott, Undyne had changed little. Like all other monsters, her armor had also been modified, now sturdier and heavier. She wasn’t wearing a helmet, kept now a short hair, and Frisk could see an earphone by her right ear.

She looked like a true warrior.

For some reason, Frisk felt strangely calm about this.

“ _Why_? Why wage war on humanity?”

Undyne cocked her head upwards, looking at the human with an air of proud superiority.

“Isn’t it obvious?”, she began. “Humans have kept monsters underground for centuries. We are merely taking back what should be ours by default. It’s all about justice.”

“But your problem... is with me, and me only.”, he said.

He looked down at Mrs. Magda’s body on the floor. He still couldn’t believe it – she was alive and well just the previous day, when she called Frisk for that conversation in her office. Who would have thought this would have happened?

He felt a sickening anger growing inside him – he never liked Mrs. Magda, but he never wished actual harm to her. He never wished for her to killed like that, like she was just a bothersome fly.

“You’ve killed innocent people.”, he stated, his voice trembling.

“Don’t you dare talk about killing innocent people, punk!”, shouted Undyne, annoyed. “King Asgore... Queen Toriel... they were not only good rulers, they were also good monsters. And you killed them!”

Frisk felt his anger burning inside him with full force now. How _dare_ she talk about Toriel and Asgore? Like she knew anything that had happened, for starters.

“We are only giving you what you deserve.”, she continued. “Now, don’t think this is only about you. In fact, we could just take the surface without ever finding you and it would be fine. But I won’t lie: killing you is gonna feel _good_.”

Frisk was impressed Undyne hadn’t started her attack yet – to be honest, she looked rather patient. Frisk had to buy time to figure how to escape the situation, so he decided to keep her busy.

The only thing he was sure of was that he wasn’t going to surrender himself that easily. Not after what happened to Mrs. Magda.

“So... six years. Six years is what took you to break down the barrier. How’d you do that?”, he asked. He was actually a bit curious about that, too – it was unlikely seven humans had fallen the hole at Mt. Ebott during that time span.

Undyne glanced a smug look to Frisk.

“Ha! Like I’m telling you that! You just need to know it was all thanks to the brilliant work of Dr. Alphys!”, she answered.

“Alphys..?”

Frisk was genuinely surprised by that – of course he remembered Dr. Alphys. She tried to impress Frisk during his journey in the Underground by “protecting” him against Mettaton, the ultimate TV star of monsters, who presumably wanted Frisk dead. It turned out it was all a façade orchestrated by Alphys herself, who just wanted for someone to admire her; to need her.

He knew Alphys was close friends with Undyne, but doubted she would actually take part in helping the empress in their plan to destroy humanity. It just... it didn’t match the quirky personality of the royal scientist.

“But why am I telling you this?”, asked Undyne, smiling. “You are gonna die, anyway!”

With that, she summoned a magic spear. It shined a light blue light.

Frisk was scared – there was no denying that. But he also felt defiant, in a way he had perhaps never felt before. His determination coarsed through his body, and he wasn’t about to let himself die to Undyne.

“Do your worst.”, he said through gritted teeth.

Undyne laughed before throwing the spear at an unbelievable speed towards Frisk.

Before he could do anything, the spear shattered just before it reached him.

Frisk blinked. There was... something spinning right in front of him; spinning so fast it actually shielded him from Undyne’s attack. It started to slow down afterwards, before falling to the ground with a hollow sound.

It was a bone.

“heya, kiddo.”, said a familiar voice behind him. “did ya miss me?”


	4. Constellations

Frisk glanced behind his shoulder. There it was: blue hoodie, hands in pockets and that famous grin. He never thought he’d feel so relieved to meet them again after all this time.

“Hey, Sans.”, said Frisk, smiling. 

“Sans!”, screamed Undyne. “What the hell are you doing!?”

Sans looked to the corpse on the floor – for a moment, it seemed his grin failed to maintain, but the next second, he was already smiling like usual, looking at Undyne.

“just thought i’d pass by and say hello”, he answered, his voice as calm as ever. “wanted to see an old friend, that’s all.”

He winked at Frisk.

“Old friend!?”, said Undyne, furious. “He killed the queen  _and_  the king! And a couple of other monsters, while he was at it! Don’t tell me you fell for his tricks!”

“now, now, undyne...”, Sans closed both his eye sockets. Being a skeleton, Frisk had no idea how he did that. “it’s rude to talk about someone who’s listening.” 

With that, Sans opened his left eye, now showing a ghastly blue glow. Frisk shivered – the eye made him feel nervous, like a bad memory coming up, although he was sure he’d never seen the skeleton’s eye glow like that before.

Undyne readied another spear, but Sans was faster and more effective: he simply pointed his left arm to her, and cast a blue light towards the empress. She couldn’t dodge, and the magic’s effects started just as it hit her. Frisk watched as Undyne fell to the ground, unable to stand her own weight.

“what’s the problem, empress? feeling a little ‘blue’? heheh.”, Sans looked at Undyne struggling on the floor, before taking a good look at Frisk. “’sup, kid? you’ve grown up, right? but it’s still easy to recognize you.”

“How did you find me?”, asked Frisk.

“heh, we’ve been trying to track you since the monsters broke free...”

“‘ _We_ ’? You mean...”

“yep, pretty much.”

Frisk couldn’t help but smile. Of course, there was only one live being on the entire Earth who would do anything to find a long lost friend in the middle of a war, and even make their brother help.

Suddenly, there was a loud noise next to them, similar to that of glass shattering, and before Frisk knew it Undyne was up again – she had broken free from the blue magic.

“You fool!”, she screamed. “Do you think you can use your magic against me? Did you forget I have control over everyone’s magic now?”

“oh, damn. i might have.”, said Sans, finally letting go of his grin. If skeletons could turn pale, Frisk thought he would have.

“What? Control everyone’s magic? What’s she talking about?”, asked Frisk, but Sans was with his eyes fixed at Undyne, his left one starting to show that eerie glow again. “Sans, what is going on?”

“Sans of Snowdin Town!”, continued Undyne. “You are under arrest for the crime of treason! Show any resistance, and I’ll use lethal magic!”

“eh, was never too much of a patriot anyway.”, Sans shrugged his shoulders, and looked at Frisk, his grin back and his eyes normal. “okay, we will have to go for plan b.”

“What’s plan b?”

Sans looked to the side in a mischievous way.

“run.”

They gave a step back before a spear flew, passing by right where they were. Frisk didn’t ask again, and simply ran away – Sans keeping up besides him. For someone thought to be lazy, Sans was rather agile and fast when he needed to be.

“I need reinforcements!”, they both heard Undyne running behind them, speaking to her earphone. “The human is with a skeleton monster! Come here ASAP!”

They ran through some streets, Undyne throwing her magic spears at them in an attempt to slow them down. Frisk dodged them easily, and Sans didn’t have much trouble as well. They weren’t going to any specific place, just going on “autopilot” and hoping to dismiss Undyne before the reinforcements arrived. It was a pretty bad plan, but they didn’t have anything better.

Frisk thought he was going all well before something hit him and he froze on the spot. Initially horrified, he thought a spear had hit him on his back, but he was intact. He just couldn’t move.

“ _Dammit_!”, yelled Frisk. “Sans! SANS!”

Sans was running in front of the human and didn’t notice, but turned around when he heard his name.

“oh, crap.” he said, running back to Frisk. “hold on, kid!”

But just before they could reach him, Frisk saw the same magic that hit him hitting the skeleton. They both couldn’t move now. To put it in other terms, they could only turn around on the same spot, but that was it.

The effects of “green magic” weren’t very pleasing.

“You are both...”, said Undyne, stoping a few feet away. “...SENTENCED TO DEATH!”

She summoned a spear to Sans’ right, but he turned to face it just before it hit, blocking it.

“ya know how green works, buddo?”, asked Sans, still maintaining his voice calm. Frisk didn’t know how he always kept that chill behavior all the time, even when his life was on the line like that. 

“Don’t worry.”, said Frisk, blocking a spear that came from behind. “I’ve done this before.”

Undyne kept throwing spears at the duo, who blocked them all. They were getting increasingly faster, and Frisk knew it was only a matter of time for one of them to hit – and one hit was all it would take. He was also worried about the reinforcements: it had been some time since Undyne called them, which meant they would get there by any minute now.

“just hold on a bit longer, kiddo.”, said Sans, blocking three more spears. “help is coming.”

“Help?”, asked Frisk, turning around to block spears coming from all directions. “Who..?”

Who was he kidding? He  _knew_  who it was. He just hoped they’d arrive soon. Both he and Sans were relying mostly on luck now.

The way they had to turn around to block the spears made them look like they were doing a bizarre dance. At any other situation, that might had been fun. But it wasn’t funny when they were doing that purely for survival.

Suddenly, he heard a noise. He didn’t know how he did it with the constant buzz of the magic spears around him, but it was increasingly louder. Fortunately, it seemed to distract Undyne as well, and her attacks slowed down.

“What..?”, she asked confused, looking behind Sans and Frisk.

It sounded like a... car?

Frisk turned around, and gasped as a convertible car almost run him and Sans over, just stopping at the last moment. The wheels made a screeching noise against the street. On the driver seat...

“SORRY, UNDYNE!”, said Papyrus, raising his hand and making blue bones appear all around Undyne. “I HOPE WE CAN STILL BE FRIENDS AFTER THIS IS ALL OVER!”

“What!?”, shouted Undyne, taken aback. “Papyrus!? Not  _you_  too! I can’t believe it!”

The shock was all it took for Frisk and Sans break free of the green magic. They ran to the convertible car, Frisk sitting between the skeleton brothers.

“papyrus, go!”, shouted Sans, closing the door. He didn’t need to say it twice: Papyrus had already drove away from a shocked Undyne. In the next second, they had already turned a corner, and Papyrus was only speeding up.

“OH, HELLO HUMAN!”, said Papyrus, his voice as loud as ever. “SORRY I TOOK SO LONG! SORRY UNDYNE IS KIND OF TRYING TO KILL YOU! SORRY WE MONSTERS STARTED A WAR AGAINST YOU HUMANS! SORRY THE CAR’S PAINT IS SCRATCHED, I HOPE YOU...”

“whoa, calm down, pap.”, said Sans, louder than usual because the wind buzzed in their ears due to the high speed. “you are going to make the kid want to throw themselves away from the car.”

“Are you kidding!?”, said Frisk, laughing. “That was awesome!”

Papyrus seemed to be proud of himself.

“heh, you know pap, buddy.”, said Sans. “he was ‘bone’ to be wild.”

Papyrus seemed to be wanting to kill Sans.

“SANS! NOW IS NOT THE TIME!”

“heheh, sorry. you know i’m just having some ‘pun’, bro.”

“SANS, I’M WARNING YOU..!”

Frisk’s smile faded as he glanced back. A bunch of armored Whimsuns and Whimsalots were flying behind them, readying their magic attacks. Sans noticed too.

“uh-oh. we’re in trouble.”

Papyrus glanced at the rearview mirror before turning on another corner.

“USE YOUR MAGIC, SANS! DON’T HURT THEM, JUST SLOW THEM DOWN!”

Sans raised his arm, trying to summon his magic... but nothing happened.

“damn, i can’t. undyne’s blocked my magic.”

The monsters were getting closer, their attacks already reaching the car.

Sighing, Papyrus snapped his fingers. A single bone materialized over his hand. He grabbed it and threw it away.

“I STILL HAVE MY MAGIC, I WILL DO IT!”, decided Papyrus. “HUMAN, DO YOU KNOW HOW TO DRIVE?”

If not for the noises of magic buzzing around them, as well as the cries from the monsters chasing them, there would be an uncomfortable silence in the air.

“Um... no.”

“OH! BUT WORRY NOT!”, said Papyrus, catching a glimpse of an apologetic expression in Frisk’s face. “IT’S REALLY EASY! JUST GRAB THE WHEEL!”

“I’m... I’m not sure–”

“pap..!”, shouted Sans.

The taller skeleton simply shook his head away from an explosive magic that almost hit him. It hit a nearby store instead, making the glass from the windows shatter. Sans gave a sigh of relief.

“kiddo, i don’t wanna push you or anything...”, said Sans, looking straight at Frisk’s eyes. “but grab that wheel. right. now.”

Frisk gulped before grabbing the wheel, his eyes glued to the avenue ahead. Soon he would have to turn around, and he had no idea how to do it.

“I WILL KEEP MY FEET ON THE PEDALS! YOU JUST WORRY ON STEERING!”

“Okay, got it.”

“YOU CAN DO IT, HUMAN!”

“listen, i love this moment of ‘believe in yourself’ and stuff, but could we focus on  _not_  dying for now?”

Frisk heard Papyrus summoning his magic, but didn’t dare to look. He had to make the car take a sharp turn. Squinting his eyes, he turned the wheel.

Somehow, Papyrus managed to work with the brakes and accelerator to make the turn perfect, without even looking. Frisk was really impressed, but he had to keep focused.

“careful, kid!”, Sans grabbed Frisk’s head and pulled it downwards, avoiding a magic attack. It hit the car’s glass, which shattered with a loud noise. Frisk almost lost control of the car, but managed to hold it before it went spinning. Broken glass was all over him, but it didn’t do any harm.

“NOBODY! IS! GOING! TO! DIE!”, with each word, Frisk could hear Papyrus summoning his magic. “ON! THE WATCH! OF! THE! GREAT! PAPYRUS..!

Frisk managed to make another sharp turn. With Papyrus handling the pedals, it was almost too easy. He heard the skeleton gasp at his side, at the same time Sans gave a joyful laugh.

“hahah! get duuuuunked oonnn!”

“OH MY! ARE THEY ALRIGHT?”

“they will be fine, pap. just focus for now.”

Frisk had no idea what had happened, but couldn’t ask at the moment. He took yet another turn, this time on a rather narrow street. The small buildings on both sides were close to each other. 

“pap, we can dismiss them here. it’s our chance.”, said Sans. “summon blue bones on the buildings!”

“WHAT? BUT SANS...”, protested Papyrus. “THEY WILL BE HURT!”

Nobody said anything for a moment, and Frisk thought Sans would scream with Papyrus for being so forgiving with their chasers. They were going full force on them, why couldn’t the taller skeleton do the same?

“i know, pap.”, said Sans instead. “but there is no other way. it’s not gonna be lethal, anyway. please. for the kid.”

Frisk wasn’t sure he liked that, but was too busy to say anything. Papyrus sighed.

“FINE.”

He heard Papyrus working through his magic for a while. Suddenly, there was a loud noise, like a big electrical shock, and all the other noises stopped. Papyrus went full on the brakes.

“what..?”, said Sans. “pap... pap, we  _really_  need to get outta here.”

“I KNOW, I JUST...”, Frisk looked at Papyrus, and they were shaking.

He looked behind. The chasers were now on the ground, and most of them seemed to be unconscious. Above them, a wall of blue bones connecting two buildings had formed. It was impressive.

The monsters didn’t seem to be turning into dust, and Frisk felt a strange relief.

“LET’S GO.”, said Papyrus, sitting straight in the driver’s seat and grabbing the wheel once more. “SEE, HUMAN? I KNEW YOU COULD DO IT.”

Frisk gave a shy smile to Papyrus before letting the wheel go. The skeleton accelerated, and they started to make their way out of town.

* * *

 

Although Papyrus wasn’t driving as fast as he was when they were being chased, Frisk still had to squint his eyes to protect them a bit from the wind – the fact the car no longer had the front window didn’t help, either. He looked at Sans and Papyrus – skeletons, on the other hand, didn’t seem to have trouble with wind blowing through their eyes... or eye sockets, anyway.

They were driving on a highway. It was quiet – too quiet, in fact – and they hadn’t met any other cars on the way. Sans was resting his head in his right hand, looking to the seemingly infinite highway in front of them.

Since they left the city, there had been few words. Frisk could feel they were tired. He was also tired. He wondered where they would sleep that night.

“how much gas do we have?”, asked Sans.

Both Papyrus and Frisk looked at the gas display and gave a sigh with almost perfect sincronization.

“IT’S RUNNING ON BACKUP GAS.”, said Papyrus. He was with a serious expression ever since he had stopped their chasers back in town. “WHAT WILL WE DO WHEN IT RUNS OUT?”

Sans looked to the side, to the small woods besides the highway.

“we can go in the woods. sleep somewhere in there.”, answered Sans. “we shouldn’t camp in the open, not with these circumstances anyway.”

Oddly enough, the thought seemed to have cheered Papyrus up.

“CAMPING? WOWIE! CAN WE MAKE A FIRE AND TOAST MARSHMALLOWS?”

“heheh. sorry, bro. maybe next time.”, Sans lifted his head and grinned. “we will have to sleep on the dirt, so it’s not going to be so ‘in tents’ this time.”

“OH MY GOD, SANS! WHY MUST YOU RUIN  _EVERYTHING_  WITH YOUR TERRIBLE PUNS!?”

“i think they are pun-tastic.”

“IT’S THE SECOND TIME YOU DO A PUN WITH THE WORD ‘PUN’! THIS IS THE ULTIMATE PROOF OF TERRIBLE COMEDY!”

“hey, at least the kid likes it!”

“NO, THEY DON’T!”

“yes, they do. they’re smiling.”

And Frisk was indeed smiling. These small, random discussions were somehow comforting for him. He tried to conceal his smile when Papyrus looked, but the skeleton had already noticed.

“UGH! SANS’ TERRIBLE SENSE OF HUMOR IS RUBBING ON YOU, HUMAN! YOU SHOULDN’T TALK TO HIM! HE’S A BAD INFLUENCE!”

“hey, that’s not true! the kid loves me! right, buddo?”

Frisk looked at Sans’s face. He looked expectant to Frisk, like a puppy just about to be pet by their master. He had no idea Sans could make such face.

“Um... right.”

“see?”, said Sans with a smug.

“OKAY, BUT I SUGGEST YOU TO BE MORE LIKE A ROLE MODEL TO THEM! LIKE I AM!”

“heh, sure thing, bro.”

“I’M _SERIOUS_! YOU WILL HAVE TO WATCH OUT FOR YOUR BEHAVIOR! YOU WILL HAVE TO STOP BEING MESSY! AND, ONCE WE RESOLVE THIS MATTER WITH UNDYNE, YOU HAVE TO TAKE RESPONSIBILITIES OVER YOUR PET ROCK! OH, AND YOU WILL ALSO HAVE TO STOP DRINKING SO MUCH KETCHUP! IT’S DISGUSTING!”

“oooow, but i love ketchup!”, said Sans with a groan.

“WHY’S THAT, I’LL NEVER KNOW! BESIDES, I HAVE A FEELING HUMANS ALREADY DRINK TOO MUCH KETCHUP!”

“Why?”, asked Frisk, curious by the reason Papyrus would have reached such conclusion.

“OH... IT’S JUST THAT, BACK IN TOWN, I SAW SOME HUMANS SLEEPING! IN THE MIDDLE OF THE STREET!”, said Papyrus. Frisk felt chills being sent down his spine – he knew where this was going. “SOME WERE WITH A LOT OF KETCHUP OVER THEM. I DON’T GET IT. THEY WERE BEING ATTACKED, WHAT WERE THEY DOING WITH KETCHUP?”

Frisk looked to Sans, who in turn was looking the other way. How would he respond to  _that_?

“Yeah. Crazy, huh?”, answered Frisk, feeling his stomach twist and turn.

Sweet, innocent Papyrus. Of course he didn’t know. When monsters died, they turned into dust, but humans... humans weren’t so lucky. Even though many monsters knew about how human death was different from their death, Papyrus was one of those blessed by ignorance. Maybe it was for the best.

Luckily, or unluckily, that was the moment the backup gas finished. The car started to slow down, until it came to a halt. The trio found themselves in the middle of the highway, while the sun slowly disappeared on the horizon.

“welp, we have to go. find somewhere to stay, if possible before night.”, said Sans, opening the car door and stretching his bones. “c’mon. our camp trip can’t wait.”

* * *

 

The tops of trees filtered what little light was remaining for the day, and that made seeing things much harder than it normally would. Frisk tripped on vines here and there all the time – it made him remember the hole at Mt. Ebott; the entrance to the Underground. If anything, the fact Frisk tripped on a vine was the reason that whole situation was happening.

That thought made him want to laugh and cry at the same time.

Sans and Papyrus were besides him. They were trying to find a good spot to spend the night – maybe a clearing – but it couldn’t be too far away from the highway, as it was their reference to get to... well, to get anywhere. They had no plan – they were just walking aimlessly.

Still, Frisk couldn’t help but to feel... relieved, he thought. It wasn’t happiness – maybe happiness was an unreal feeling in the moment – but it was close. It felt a bit safer. A bit familiar. He was sure this was better than being alone.

Frisk’s head was still bursting with questions, and he thought maybe Sans and Papyrus had some answers. He was afraid of questioning them, but honestly, there was no reason not to. He wanted to understand what had happened to the Underground. What had happened to everybody.

“Hey, um...”, said Frisk, clearing his throat. Sans and Papyrus looked at him. “I wanted to know... how did you break the barrier? It’s hard to believe you could get seven human souls in six years, considering it took a lot more to gather those you had.”

There was an uncomfortable silence. Only this time around, there was no wind howling to make it more bearable.

“UM... THIS IS NOT A HAPPY TOPIC OF CONVERSATION IN THE MOMENT, HUMAN.”, said Papyrus, looking down.

“It’s never going to be a happy topic of conversation, Papyrus. Besides...”, Frisk thought carefully of what he was going to say next. “I want to know what happened to the monsters. Why is everybody so... _aggressive_ , I guess. It wasn’t like that when I was in the Underground.”

“OH, THAT... THAT...”, Papyrus seemed resistant, like he was around a touchy subject. Well, they  _were_  indeed handling a touchy subject.

“undyne brainwashed everybody.”, said Sans, dryly.

“SANS! THIS...”

“it’s true, pap. sorry.”, Sans seemed to be really sad to be saying that. “i know it hurts you. it hurts me too.”

Frisk looked at Papyrus. The taller skeleton’s expression was full of sorrow. Frisk felt a little bad having brought the subject up, but he still wanted to know.

“you remember, right? a few months after the kid left the underground...”, said Sans, but Papyrus interrupted.

“I DO.”

Another silence. Frisk could almost taste it: the story of a ruined friendship; that didn’t have a happy ending.

“What happened?”, he finally asked.

Sans gave a long sigh before looking to Frisk.

“undyne started to appear more in public, make speeches and stuff. she even got her own TV program. she made all that talk: the pride of monsterkind, ruined by humanity. the last human that fell and took away all our hope. how we could make the humans pay. how we needed to stay united.”

Frisk didn’t say a word. He just looked at Sans, trying not to look away. It was a hard task – his guilt made him want to hide himself. And he had the feeling Sans knew it.

“eventually...”, continued the shorter skeleton. “people simply started to buy it. it was slow at first, but hatred for humanity spread like a contagious virus. those who showed sympathy for humans in public were considered traitors, and were arrested, put in a dungeon beneath new home. quite a handful were put there. rumor has it they were tortured, but nobody knows.”

“I TRIED TO STOP HER.”, finally said Papyrus. “I TRIED... TO MAKE HER SEE WHAT WE HAD BECOME. WHAT MONSTERS HAD BECOME. I TOLD HER SHE COULD JUST LEAVE THIS HATRED BEHIND AND WE COULD RETURN TO DO THE COOL STUFF WE DID BACK THEN. BUT... SHE SAID IT WOULD NEVER RETURN. AND THEN SAID WHAT I DID WAS BASICALLY TREASON, BUT AS I WAS HER FRIEND SHE WOULD LET IT SLIP.”

“yep...”, said Sans, closing his eyes. “we had to fake it. say things like ‘death for all humans’ in public. i never believed any of that crap, but i had to say it or i would be arrested. you must think we were really coward, huh, kid?”

Frisk was surprised by that assumption – it couldn’t have been further from the truth.

“Not at all.”, answered Frisk. “You had to do what you had to do. Plus, you wouldn’t have been able to come and find me if you were arrested.”

“heh, that’s right.”, said Sans, smiling.

“Okay. So Undyne militarized the Underground and fed everyone with a desire for vengeance.”, said Frisk. “What about the barrier? When Undyne found me, she let it slip it was because of Dr. Alphys work, but I have a hard time believing that.”

“actually, that was exactly it.”, continued Sans, his expression serious again. “the barrier coming down was all thanks to alphys. she had studied human souls and discovered they all had a common substance: determination.”

Frisk blinked a few times, partially because now it was really dark, and partially because he wasn’t sure he understood.

“Determination? Like, the will to keep going?”

“yep, spot on.”, said Sans. “determination gives power to humans. but what it does on them is not so important in this story. what matters... is what it does to monsters.”

Frisk shivered, and he was sure it wasn’t because of the temperature. No, for some reason, he knew that explanation wasn’t going to be pleasant.

“monsters can’t handle high amounts of determination.”, explained Sans. “we melt and transform into these blobs of nothing. we lose our minds. when alphys had just been assigned to be the royal scientist, one of her first experiments revolved around using determination in monsters who had fallen down to try to mimick human souls.”

They had stopped walking by now. Frisk could barely see the skeleton brothers’ faces in the dark.

“needless to say, it had disastrous results. the monsters completely lost it, they melted and fused together. sounds like something from a horror movie, huh?”, said Sans, and Frisk had the feeling they could see his spooked expression in the dark. “alphys called these fused monsters ‘amalgamates’. they used to live in a hidden part of her lab.”

Frisk remembered Alphys’s lab. It looked like a messy, nerdy place, and he didn’t remember seeing freaks created from experiments wandering around. He could never believe she would have done something like that.

“anyway, in the last six years, aplhys helped undyne creating devices and chemicals to assist her in the upcoming war against humanity. i don’t believe she ever took that crap of ‘humans are the scum of the Earth’ as truth; i think she just wanted to see undyne happy. she was the one who developed a determination-based potion to undyne, that allowed her to enhance, or, if necessary, cut out the magic from other monsters. you saw what happened, but let’s forget it for now. the important part is that she shared her theory that the amalgamates, despite everything, could still be used as phony human souls.”

“What do you mean by ‘phony human souls’?”, asked Frisk.

“i mean that, while they were a complete mess, they still had a lot of determination inside them. more than that, they also retained a monster soul. and i’ve told ya, the main substance in human souls is determination. so alphys thought that maybe, just maybe, they could use the amalgamates to ‘trick’ the barrier.”

“But they would need to kill them.”, concluded Frisk, afraid of the next logical step. “Did it work?”

Sans was now sitting on the ground, resting his back against a tree.

“welp... i think you can see the answer for yourself, huh?”, said Sans, waving his arms around. “it’s ironic, really. everybody was always in expectations for another human to fall down, but... the answer had been under our noses all the time.”

Frisk and Papyrus also sat on the ground. Frisk thought, for a moment, he would be sleeping there that night. He found himself longing for the concrete floor he had slept on the previous night.

“then, it must have hit her. when she shared that information, when she built all those gadgets and other things to help undyne... she condemned humanity. she must have hated herself.”

Frisk wasn’t sure, but he had the impression Sans’ eye sockets were completely empty. 

“one day, i visited her lab. i was worried. when i entered, everything was dark. i found her lab coat on top of her dust... and a suicide note open in her computer.”

“God...”, it was all Frisk could say. Papyrus remained silent.

“i guess it all makes sense now.”, said Sans. “i... hadn’t really noticed before.”

They all kept silent; Frisk processing what he had just learned. On the bare minimum, that was one more death he was responsible for. He knew how Alphys had just wanted to be accepted – he could believe the fact she’d help Undyne because she wanted to please, to be useful.

But it was unfair. She didn’t deserve that ending.

“so, i guess we’ll have to rest here.”, said Sans. “we will settle down around here, but you are free to find the softest spot on the ground as you please.”

“I think we should take turns to keep a watch.”, suggested Frisk. “Just for safety...”

“YES, I AGREE.”, said Papyrus. “I CAN BE THE FIRST ONE. YOU TWO JUST GO TO SLEEP.”

“hey pap, you should take it easy.”, said Sans, a hint of concern in his voice. “you drove for a long time and consumed a lot of magic today, let me start the watch.”

“IT WAS A LONG DAY FOR EVERYBODY, SANS.”, said Papyrus. “IT’S NOT LIKE YOU TO POST-PONE SLEEP, ANYWAY. ARE YOU FEELING WELL?”

“i’m fine bro, i’m just worried about you.”

“WELL, WORRY NOT, FOR I AM THE GREAT PAPYRUS AND I WILL BEGIN THIS WATCH! YOU WILL BE NEXT, SO YOU BETTER BE WELL RESTED AND READY WHEN I CALL YOU!”

“heh, alright, if you say so, bro. when you get tired, call me, ‘kay?”, said Sans.

“YES, I WILL. MEANWHILE, I AM GOING TO TRY TO BE AS QUIET AS I CAN. GOOD NIGHT, YOU TWO.”

“night, pap.”, said Sans, as Papyrus walked away. “night, kiddo.”

“Night.”, said Frisk.

He rested his back against a nearby tree, like Sans did. It wasn’t so bad, it was actually a bit inclined, like it was meant to be slept on. It didn’t take him long to actually fall asleep, and, for the first time in a long, long time, he didn’t dream at all. 

* * *

 

Frisk woke up to the gentle breeze of the night. It wasn’t cold – on the contrary: it felt quite pleasant. 

He took some time to remember where he was. It was still dark and he couldn’t see much further, and for a moment he felt afraid that Sans and Papyrus had left him there.

Just as that thought crossed his head, he heard soft snoring. It was almost funny to hear, as it ended with a “nyeheheh” sound. Papyrus was close, which meant Sans was on his shift.

He got up, stretching his back. Sleeping by a tree for the night wasn’t really comfortable and didn’t help his achy body. He wondered when he would sleep on a real bed again.

He wasn’t feeling sleepy anymore, although he doubted he had slept more than three hours. He decided he could as well search for Sans. The skeleton shouldn’t be far, and Frisk wanted to see if they weren’t sleeping during their shift.

The human gave careful steps, his eyes still getting used to the dark – a flashlight would have been useful in that situation. He accidentally stepped on a stick on the floor, and it cracked, making Papyrus mumble something about a dog picking his bones, though they didn’t wake up.

He walked on a circle around the place they had settled in, trying to find a sign of Sans. Then he saw them – they were sitting on the trunk of a tree that had fallen to the ground, bathed by moonlight, as the trees there were slightly more sparse. They were looking at something above.

“hey, buddo.”, said Sans as the human approached, still looking above. “your shift is next. don’t you wanna catch up a little more sleep?”

“I’m impressed  _you_  aren’t sleeping.”, replied Frisk, sitting besides Sans. “I could be a kidnapper, or one of Undyne’s soldiers.”

“nah, i knew it was you. i recognized your steps.”

“My... steps..?”, said Frisk, confused. Sans didn’t answer, and the human decided he didn’t really want to know.

“i never imagined the sky here was so beautiful.”, said Sans.

Frisk looked above. There wasn’t much of the sky he could see between the tops of the trees, but it was a starry night. It was beautiful, indeed.

“the closest thing to this in the underground was...”

“That cavern at Waterfall.”, completed Frisk.

Frisk remembered the cavern with the little shiny stones that mimicked stars. Monsters would go there to make wishes, one of the most popular being to see the real stars someday. He was a little sad to admit that probably not many monsters had taken the time to appreciate the stars – not in the current status they were in.

“yeah. i read all about the sky of the surface.”, said Sans, finally looking at Frisk. “but seeing the real deal is a lot more breathtaking.”

“You read books about the night sky?”, said Frisk, not doing anything to avoid a smug look coming to his face. “I thought you only read joke books?”

“heheh, joke books are the finest literature there is.”, said Sans, winking. “but a bit of variety is good once in a while. do you know the constellations?”

“To be honest, no.”, said Frisk, feeling a bit embarrassed. “I lived here all my life, so I always took this view for granted. I never bothered to learn them.”

“here, if you move your head around a bit you can spot some.”, said Sans, looking at the sky again.

Sans pointed the place of a few constellations he could identify. Frisk was actually amazed by how much the skeleton knew. It didn’t take really long, but Frisk appreciated the moment – looking at the stars, he felt his problems were far, far away. He was also smiling during the whole explanation.

After that, they both sat in a companionable silence. A breeze blew behind them.

“so...”, Sans broke the silence. “i noticed a thing. it makes me embarrassed to say it, but i never asked what your name was. i was fine to call you ‘kid’ and ‘kiddo’ in the underground, but now you are quite grown up, so i guess it’s a bit weird if i keep calling you that.”

“I don’t really mind.”, responded Frisk, shrugging his shoulders.

“that’s okay, but i think it’s bad to be friends with someone you don’t even know the name. you are not the first one, if you recall.”

Frisk shivered, and it had nothing to do with the breeze. Yes, he knew exactly  _who_  he was talking about.

Way to ruin a good moment.

“so, let’s start this over, shall we?”, said Sans. “’sup, what’s your name?”

Sans offered a handshake. Frisk knew what was coming. He smiled.

“Frisk.”, he said, while he grabbed Sans’ hand. A loud, obnoxious sound escaped from the whoopee cushion that they were holding. Frisk laughed.

  
“sans.”, simply said the skeleton.

“This is gonna wake Papyrus up.”, said Frisk.

“nah, we are far. and in case he does wake up, we can always say  _he_  was the one who farted.”

Frisk laughed again. It sounded weird, like he had forgotten how to laugh.

“you know, frisk...”, said Sans, picking up a small vine from the ground and fiddling it with his fingers. “when i first saw you exiting the ruins in the underground six years ago, i was impressed by your expression. not in a positive way.”

“What do you mean?”, asked Frisk, curious.

“well, you had that... serious expression. like you had gone through stuff no child should.”

In a sense, it was true. Frisk’s childhood was hard enough, and considering what had happened in the Underground before he met Sans and Papyrus, he really had no reason to be smiling when he first entered Snowdin.

“when i saw you with that expression, it broke my metaphorical heart. i knew i had to try to make you laugh. i succeeded real easy, didn’t i?”, said Sans, grinning. “i was proud of myself.”

Frisk smiled. It was true: the skeleton brothers shenanigans managed to make him laugh when he thought he’d never laugh again. From that point on, his journey on the Underground was far more bearable than it would have been otherwise.

“i guess i related.”, continued Sans. “i did go through stuff no child should when i was young. but that story... is for another time.”

Part of Frisk was curious to know more about the brothers’ story before they got to Snowdin, because nobody really knew where they had come from. However, he respected Sans’ wishes and didn’t push it.

“now, i’ll understand if you don’t wanna talk about it...”, continued Sans. “but i’d like to know, frisk... what did you go through in the underground? everybody says you killed the king and the queen cold-blooded, but... i want to know your side of the story.”

Frisk got quiet, unsure of what to say. He didn’t know if he was ready to share that story. He didn’t know if he would ever be ready.

Part of him was afraid Sans would hate him for it; the other part was afraid they weren’t going to believe him. He never told anybody what had passed – it wasn’t like he ever had anybody to share the tale of his journey, anyway.

“if you don’t want to tell now, that’s okay.”, said Sans, as Frisk didn’t say anything. “you can tell when you are ready. i’ll do the same.”

“I was raised at an orphanage.”, began Frisk.

He could feel that Sans was looking at him.

“I don’t remember much about my life before the orphanage. Not even my mother. Just, one day – I think I was four – I was there, and I remember missing her for weeks. I thought she would come and get me, but... well... she never did.”

Frisk took a long sigh, which was appropriate, since this was going to be a long story. He wasn’t sure he was doing the right thing, though.

“I guess it took me three years to realize she was really dead.”, he continued. “I... I don’t remember feeling really sad when I realized it, it was more like... more like someone had flicked a switch in my brain, and I finally saw it, you know? But that didn’t change my life in the orphanage – I never liked that place, and noticing my mother was no longer here in this world didn’t have much effect in that. I’d still run away countless times – deep inside, I think I wanted to stay away as much as possible from there. But I’d always come back.”

Sans didn’t say a word. They seemed to be paying the ultimate attention to Frisk, who tried to sit more comfortably on the branch. He didn’t like the next part of the story.

“Until, one day, in one of those times I ran away, I decided to wander around Mt. Ebott. I knew the legends, of course – it’s pretty famous with the locals, although not so much in the rest of the country. I wanted to challenge the mountain; to see if those fairytales were true and... well, you know where that got me. I fell to the Underground.”

Frisk was feeling his mouth dry, and he realized he had never spoken so much for so long before – mainly because there was never someone to listen. But now, Sans was there with him, willing to do just that – even if the human wasn’t sure if he liked the conversation topic at hand.

“I was really impressed I didn’t die when I fell that hole – there was a bed of flowers on the bottom, which softened the fall. Whether that’s fate or pure luck, I don’t really know... anyway, as I couldn’t get back up, I decided to go through the tunnels, and that was when I met _it_ for the first time. A yellow, talking flower, that was really friendly to me at first. They said they wanted to share a bit of ‘LOVE’ through their ‘friendliness pellets’, and... looking back now, I don’t know how I could be so stupid to have trusted in them, because they tried to kill me with those very same pellets.”

“a talking flower...”, mumbled Sans, as if he was remembering something.

“Before they could do anything, a goat monster came and saved me. Guided me through the Ruins. I didn’t know at the time, but that was Toriel: former queen of the Underground and, at the time I met her, caretaker of the Ruins.”

Frisk knew that Sans was friends with Toriel. He wondered if he knew her name by now?

“She said that... if I left the Ruins, king Asgore would kill me for my soul, so that monsterkind could return to the surface. She told me to stay with her instead. She could be my mother. I’d be safe there.”

“but...”

Frisk had a feeling Sans knew what was the next part. He really didn’t like it, but now that he had started, he was only moving forward.

“But I got scared. I... I felt out of place in the Underground; I wanted to return to the surface. At the Ruins, some monsters attacked me, and I...”, Frisk felt his eyes starting to get misty. He knew there were tears forming on them. “ _I killed them_. I thought it was self-defense, but only after I had killed a couple monsters I noticed they weren’t really wanting to fight. I promised I wouldn’t hurt another being in the Underground, but... well, that promise didn’t last an hour.”

Frisk clenched his fists – his hands felt cold. It was the first time he was talking about this, the reason for many of the nightmares he had after his big adventure.

“I asked Toriel about how I could return to the surface and she got really upset. She tried to change the subject, but when she noticed I wasn’t dropping it, she attempted to destroy the Ruins’ exit. That’s when I attacked her.”

Tears were now streaming down his face. He looked away, but he was sure the skeleton noticed. His voice was different because of it too. Sans didn’t say a word, so Frisk couldn’t tell how they were taking it.

“I never intended to kill her, but it didn’t matter. I don’t know how monsters souls work, but I think she was weakened due to her sadness because I rejected her. Sometimes... sometimes I still can feel... her dust on my hands.”

He took deep breaths, trying not to sob.

“She... she loved me... like I was her very own child.”, said Frisk, failing to keep from crying. “Sh-she offered me her everything, and I threw it all a-away.  _What_  was I thinking? I didn’t... didn’t have anything or anybody on the surface.  _Why_  didn’t I stay?”

He looked at Sans, who had a sorrowful expression on their face.

“Sans... I...”, Frisk didn’t know what to say. “When I discovered she made you promise her you would protect me, I felt... the worst damn thing on Earth. She... she was your friend and...  _god_ , you must hate me.”

The human put his head in his hands, unable to continue telling his story. Silence fell between the two for a moment before Sans finally decided to speak up.

“nah, i never hated ya, frisk.”, he said, and when Frisk looked at him he winked. “hate takes _effort_ , and i’m way too lazy for that, heh. but i did have a suspicion you had something to do with the queen’s death, and i’m gonna be honest with you: i wasn’t sure if you meant or not to kill her up until now. but now? now i believe in you, buddy. you seem to be suffering too much with this to just be pretending.”

It was Frisk’s turn to be silent.

“but you gotta remember...” continued Sans. “you gotta remember you didn’t hurt a single other monster in the underground after that. yeah – i kept a watch on you, and you always got away from conflict without using violence. i’m not saying what you did to the queen should be forgotten, but hey, you tried to become a better person. and that’s always an admirable thing.”

Sans put his hand on Frisk’s shoulder on a comforting manner. As much as the human appreciated the gesture, it didn’t make him feel any better. 

“what about the king? asgore?”, asked Sans.

“I didn’t kill Asgore.”, answered Frisk, wiping a tear. “When I got to Asgore, I fought him. I almost killed him, and I knew I had to if I wanted to leave the Underground, but... I couldn’t do it. I remembered Toriel. I couldn’t kill him. Not like that. And then, that stupid flower showed up and killed him instead.”

“that flower... of course.”, said Sans, like he was realizing something.

“What?”, said Frisk, surprised. “You believe me?”

“why wouldn’t i?”, said Sans, sounding surprised himself. “if you’d lie to me, you could have said the queen had tried to kill you, or that someone else had killed her. it would make more sense.”

“I guess so.”, Frisk thought the logic was sound. “But...”

“i... know that flower, frisk.”, said Sans. “i know the things they are capable of. they are really,  _really_  freaky.”

Frisk frowned, wondering how Sans could possibly know that socipathic flower.

“Anyway...”, he continued. “When they killed Asgore, they absorbed the six human souls and turned into this demonic plant-like monster. They tried to kill me, but I held onto my determination and... looking back now, I don’t really remember how I defeated them. I... got help, but I can’t recall from whom.”

And he was being sincere. The memories from the fight against that freakish flower were all hazy, like it all was a dream – but Frisk now knew for a fact it was real. It had happened.

“I killed the flower.”, said Frisk, simply. “And got out of the Underground.”

They were silent for a moment, but it was no longer companionable – it was filled with sorrow and regret instead.

“i’m glad you opened up, buddy.”, said Sans. “one day, i’ll open up too.”

“Thanks, Sans.”, said Frisk. “For listening.”

“don’t mention it.”

They sat in silence for a while longer, when Sans broke it once more.

“ki... frisk... do you believe in, like, alternate timelines?”

“You mean, like every time we make a decision another timeline is created for the alternative we didn’t pick?”, asked Frisk.

Sans seemed to be thinking a bit.

“eh, not exactly that, but close enough.”, said the skeleton, scratching his chin. “anyways, i like to think there is a timeline where you freed all monsters from the underground. there was no war. just everybody happy and excited to see the surface.”

Frisk thought about it. He didn’t think it was really possible. How would he have been able to free all monsters from the Underground? He was just a child when he fell the hole at Mt. Ebott.

However, he decided to play along with it.

“That’s really nice. I hope they are happy." 

“i’m sure they are.”


	5. Stripes

Frisk woke up to the filtered sunlight that passed through the leaves. It was a nice day; the sky was blue, and he could hear the birds singing – it would be the perfect day for a game of catch. Or camping. Unfortunately, reality was much more unforgiving.

He yawned and looked around. Sans and Papyrus weren’t nearby. He imagined the shift would end with the taller skeleton, but the other one wasn’t sleeping, which was strange. He wondered where they had gone.

Even with the circumstances, the human felt more lighthearted than he ever had in years. Maybe it was the brothers presence that made him feel better, or maybe it was his talk with Sans the night before. He couldn’t tell, and honestly, it didn’t matter.

“OH, THE HUMAN IS AWAKE!”, said Papyrus. Frisk looked to his left and saw Papyrus coming to his direction, with a big smile on their face, Sans right behind them. They were both holding something.

“i told him your name, bud.”, said Sans, winking. “he still thinks ‘human’ is a cool nickname, though.”

Frisk looked to Papyrus, who in turn was beaming with expectation.

“Yeah, I think it’s cool too.”, said Frisk. Papyrus looked at Sans with an expression that translated to ‘told you so’, to which the shorter skeleton answered with a shrug. “Anyway, what you got?”

“WELL, WE ARE ALL HUNGRY! SO I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS, HAD THE BRILLIANT IDEIA OF SEARCHING FOR FOOD IN THE NATURE!”, said Papyrus, seemingly proud of himself. Then, he noticed Sans was looking at him with a smug, and gave a sigh. “AND MY BROTHER CAME ALONG TOO. HE HELPED. I GUESS.”

“Wow. You could have called me to go too.”, said Frisk, feeling a bit left out, though he appreciated the gesture. “But thanks, guys.”

Frisk didn’t realize how hungry he was. When was the last time he actually ate something?

“there wasn’t much here, but we found some berries...”, for some reason, Sans’ grin grew wider as he told that. Frisk braced himself in expectation, while Papyrus tensed up.

“SANS, PLEASE...”

“well, i’m sorry...”, teased Sans.

“SANS, YOU DON’T HAVE TO DO THIS...”

“if they don’t taste...”

“SANS..!”

“’ _berry_ ’ good.”

“OH MY GOD, SANS, OF ALL YOUR PUNS, THIS ONE TAKES THE CAKE FOR THE WORST ONE!”

Frisk could probably agree with Papyrus in that one – he himself was feeling his face getting red from embarassment.

“eh, i would rather it took this berry here.”, said Sans, picking one and shoving it into his mouth. “c’mon, let’s eat.”

And so they did. The berries tasted... _peculiar_ , but Frisk was so hungry he didn’t mind. He doubted they would satisfy him, but he had to eat something. Besides, Sans and Papyrus were doing more for him than they should, and Frisk wouldn’t be ungrateful enough to complain.

“so, whatcha think?”, asked Sans.

“They are alright.”, said Frisk, swallowing a berry.

“they taste like crap.”

“YOU DON’T KNOW HOW  _THAT_  TASTES, SO THAT’S AN INVALID POINT!”, said Papyrus, as eloquent as ever.

“who said i don’t?”

“SANS, THAT’S DISGUSTING!”

“How can you taste food, anyway?”, asked Frisk. “I mean, you two don’t have tongues.”

To his surprise, both Sans and Papyrus seemed to be taken aback by the question, like they weren’t sure of the answer themselves.

“UM...”

“i guess it’s magic?”

“YES, THAT MAKES PERFECT SENSE!”

“What? Seriously?”, said Frisk, laughing at the situation. “C’mon, it’s your body, how come you don’t know how it works?”

“our... body?”, said Sans, glancing a smug look to Frisk. “well, technically we have no body.”

Some seconds passed before Sans noticed the way Papyrus was looking at him after he said that.

“papyrus! heheheh!”, laughed Sans, and it sounded incredible genuine, even for him. “i swear that wasn’t on purpose!”

“I CAN’T BELIEVE IN YOU!”

“c’mon pap, you need to be a little more ‘humerous’.”

“SANS, YOU ARE NOT HELPING YOUR CASE!”

After some more berries and laughs, Frisk felt like he was ready to what was ahead of him. Maybe that was hope, and he didn’t want to let it go. They sat on the ground for a little longer, enjoying the atmosphere.

“So, where do we go now?”, asked Frisk. They needed to plan a course of action.

“well, i say we go to the next town. we should be close enough to go there by foot, we just need to get to the highway again.”

Frisk felt a bit uncomfortable. He wasn’t sure what to expect to see in the next town – but remembering the lack of movement on the highway the day before, he doubted things would be nice and normal.

“WHAT ARE WE DOING THERE?”, asked Papyrus.

Sans was drawing small patterns on the ground, absentmindedly.

“we need resources, ya know, food and medicine. we should be able to find them there. that’s our first step.”, answered Sans. “unless you both plan on living off berries now?”

Papyrus’ eye socket twitched a bit with that prospective – Frisk had no idea how that happened.

“OK, WE ARE GOING TO TOWN.”, agreed the skeleton.

“we will need to be careful though.”, said Sans. “undyne’s guards might be there, and they will get all worked up if they see frisk.”

“We need to watch out for humans, too.”, said Frisk, pessimistically. “I mean, they are pretty shocked with the monsters attacking. When they see you, they might think you are intending to do harm or something. I’ll do my best to convince them you are good, but... I don’t know. Humans are a pretty nasty race. I’m sure you noticed.”

In a sense, they weren’t really safe from anybody but themselves.

“I THINK HUMANS ARE WONDERFUL!”, said Papyrus, cheerfully. “JUST LOOK AT YOU, HUMAN! YOU ARE GREAT! NOT AS GREAT AS I AM, OF COURSE, BUT PRETTY GREAT! SO HUMANS MUST BE COOL!”

Frisk wanted to explain, but it would be hard. Besides, he didn’t know if he was ready to break that illusion.

“alright, we will need to be discreet, avoid calling attention. i won’t lie to you, this is gonna be dangerous.”, said Sans, his voice abnormally serious. “you better watch out, i don’t wanna anybody here hurt... or worse.”

Something about they way the skeleton said that sent chills down Frisk’s spine, but he didn’t say anything.

“NOTHING TO WORRY ABOUT! THE GREAT PAPYRUS WILL PROTECT YOU!”, said Papyrus optimistically.

“i’m sure you will, bro.”, said Sans, smiling again and his voice in the normal tone. “we should move now. y’know, enjoy this nice weather and all.”

They stood up, and started to make their way out of the woods. Frisk felt something strange inside him – somehow, he was sure they would be alright through this.

He felt determined.

* * *

 

They walked closer to the woods than to the highway – that way, hiding would be easier if they spotted someone coming. Besides, the shadows from the trees protected them from the blazing sun that was shining that day. That heat wasn’t normal for that time of year; Frisk reckoned there was still more than a month left for summer to actually start.           

Sans lead the way, walking in front of the human and Papyrus. From time to time, the shorter skeleton would snap his fingers a couple times. Frisk thought they had a rhythm in their head, but when they gave a frustrated sigh, he knew they had been trying to summon magic. Apparently, Undyne’s blockage was still on effect. Frisk wondered when it would wear out – _if_ it would wear out, that is.

He got worried by this. The brothers’ magic was the only defense mechanism available, and it was practically cut by half now. Maybe even more: as talented as Papyrus was, the lack of intent to hurt could put them on disadvantage some time.

God, what was he _thinking_? Frisk slapped himself mentally for that thought. How could he blame Papyrus for being a pacifist by heart? What had he become?

“HUMAN, I WOULD LIKE TO THANK YOU.”, said Papyrus, suddenly.

Frisk was a bit distracted and was taken by surprise by the statement. He took some moments, thinking he had mistaken what they had said.

“Thank... me?”

“YES. FOR SANS, I MEAN.”, the skeleton explained, giving Frisk a kind smile. “DURING THOSE LAST FEW YEARS IN THE UNDERGROUND, SANS GREW MORE AND MORE SERIOUS. THERE WERE DAYS HE WOULDN’T EVEN JOKE ANYMORE. I FEEL HE’S HAPPY NOW THAT WE FOUND YOU.”

Frisk didn’t know what to respond. He really liked Sans, but he wasn’t sure if Sans was too fond of him. Sure, the skeleton had some respect for him – that much was obvious – but he didn’t know if Sans could ever like him after what he did in the Underground. The human had the sneaking suspicion they only came to the rescue because Papyrus wanted to.

He could be wrong, for better or worse. Everything was an enigma around Sans – like a complicated puzzle he just couldn’t solve.

Looking to Papyrus, he decided to play safe.

“I should be the one thanking you. I don’t know if I’d have made this far without your help.”

“OH, I WAS SIMPLY DOING MY OBLIGATION, HUMAN! THE GREAT PAPYRUS IS ALWAYS THERE FOR THOSE IN NEED!”, said Papyrus with confidence.

“hey, you two, can you see it?”, Sans stopped and pointed ahead of him.

Frisk could see it indeed – the town they were heading for was already close. They had covered a good distance by car the day before. Looking from where they were, it looked normal – Frisk didn’t have his hopes up, though.

“WOWIE! WE ARE GETTING THERE!”, stated Papyrus.

“Yeah...”, said Frisk. “We should be more careful.”

“alright... no matter what happens, we stick together. got it?”, said Sans, looking at the two.

Frisk and Papyrus nodded in agreement.

“let’s go then. oh, and one more thing.”, said Sans, turning around and leading the way once again. “pap, if you are gonna talk about me, please don’t do it so loud.” 

* * *

 

The city looked normal at a distance, but as they got closer, Frisk could see the marks that indicated war had already passed through. Bits of dust were scattered around the asphalt, along with spots of blood. Destroyed buildings and houses and places marked by gunshots completed the scenario of utter destruction. It looked like hell itself had opened a portal to town.

It was quiet. Really quiet. Frisk’s attention was on the double. The trio’s footsteps echoed through the streets.

“I DON’T SEE ANYBODY!”, said Papyrus.

“yep, but there could be soldiers hiding. pap, i’m gonna ask you to speak in lower tone here.”, said Sans.

“SANS, YOU KNOW I CAN’T CONTROL MY VOICE PITCH!”

“so don’t speak at all!”, said Sans, way more rude than he intended. Papyrus looked hurt.

Sans had this tense look. He was watching the windows on the buildings, trying to spot someone. Frisk did the same.

“pap... sorry. i forgot.”, said Sans, regretting the way he had just spoken to his brother. “it’s just, if someone listens you, they...”

_BANG_!

Frisk barely had time to scream for them to get down when he heard the shot. Someone at a high window was shooting at them, and they weren’t sparing any ammunition.

They crawled desperately behind a large garbage container. It wouldn’t protect them from gunfire, but they couldn’t stay on the middle of the street, either.

“that a human?”, asked Sans as another gunshot was heard. It hit the ground near them.

“I-I think so. They are fighting... fighting with firearms.”, answered Frisk, trying not to panic. Memories from two nights before were surfacing in his mind. The smell of fresh blood and the noises from hazardous magic were still vivid in his head.

_BANG_!

Another shot, and that one pierced the container a few inches above Sans’ head.

“dammit, we can’t stay in the open!”, said the skeleton, looking around. “there!”

He pointed at a wrecked store on the other side of the street.

“papyrus, can you summon a protective barrier from here to there?”

Normally, Frisk would expect Papyrus to boast about how easy that was for someone as talented and great as them, but given the gravity of the situation, they simply nodded and raised their arm, summoning a wall of blue bones high enough for them to cross to the other side.

Ducking, they all rapidly moved alongside it. The blue bones were a smart trick – as it damaged moving things, it caused the bullets to disintegrate upon contact.

When they entered the store, Papyrus flicked his wrist, causing the wall of bones to shatter.

“pap, you really  _are_  the greatest.”, said Sans, punching his brother in the arm in a playful way.

Papyrus seemed to cheer up with the compliment.

“NYEH HEH HEH! IT WAS NOTHING FOR SOMEONE AS TALENTED AND GREAT AS ME!”

“ok... so what have we got here?”, said Sans, focusing his attention on the place they had just entered.

It was all destroyed. Glass was shattered on the floor, and shelves were completely broken down. There were dark spots on the walls, which Frisk figured were due to magic attacks. He spotted some products here and there, and from what they were, the human deduced they were in... 

“A drug store.”, he said.

Sans clapped his hands.

“perfect. let’s see if we can find some painkillers. maybe some gauze and antiseptic while we’re at it. these are most important.”

Both he and Frisk started to look at the products left. There weren’t many, so he figured the place had already been looted by others, probably during the previous day. Frisk picked a bottle of painkillers from the floor.

Meanwhile, Papyrus stood frozen in his spot.

“UM...”, he said.

“what’s up bro?”, said Sans, picking up a bottle and throwing it away when he saw it was empty. He looked at his brother’s hesitant expression and his face fell a little. “is it because what i said before?” 

“WHAT? NO, NO! YOU WERE RIGHT! IT’S JUST... WELL, THERE’S NO ONE HERE! WE CAN’T BUY THESE THINGS!”

Frisk stopped what he was doing. He was with his back turned to the skeletons, and didn’t bother to turn around. Yet another uncomfortable silence fell upon them – it seemed the human had been dealing with a lot of these recently.

“bro...”, said Sans, his voice filled with a sadness Frisk never heard before. “we are just... taking it.”

“BUT WHAT IF THE OWNER OF THE STORE COMES BACK?”

Papyrus’ innocence was admirable. He managed to stay faithful to his principles even on these poor conditions, which was by itself a virtue.

“i don’t think they are.”, responded Sans. “listen, we need these things. i think the owner would have wanted to help survivors like us.”

Papyrus looked to the side, unsure.

“I... DON’T KNOW IF I LIKE THIS.”

“bro... i don’t like it either, but...”, Sans seemed to be in conflict. “if you don’t want us to take these things, we won’t, ok? we’ll find another way.”

Frisk wanted to object, but didn’t want to say something he would regret later. He decided to trust Sans: they would find a way.

“N... NO. YOU CAN TAKE THEM. I UNDERSTAND.”, said Papyrus, finally. “IT’S JUST... I WON’T PICK ANYTHING UP, OKAY? I HOPE YOU DON’T MIND.”

“yes, sure thing, bro.”, said Sans, his voice sounding with relief. “thanks.”

With that, he and Frisk resumed searching for things that would be useful, while Papyrus sat by a chair near the counter. Some minutes later, after they had looked around every corner, they reunited.

“found anything good, buddo?”, asked Sans.

“Just this bottle of painkillers.”, said Frisk, showing it.

“welp, i found some gauze.”, said Sans in return. “and some bandages. i mean, it’s not gonna help with great wounds, but i see you are scratched and bruised all over, so taking it won’t hurt, will it? didn’t find antiseptic though, and we are gonna need it if you get a wound that might get you an infection. fortunately, skeletons are free from this kind of problem.”

Frisk hadn’t thought about that – it was very considerate of Sans to know about it.

“I’ll be careful, then.”, said Frisk.

“i don’t know if i can trust you.”, stated Sans, serious. Frisk looked confused before the skeleton started grinning again. “you can’t say ‘frisk’ without ‘risk’, after all.”

Frisk’s face scrunched up automatically after that one. Papyrus was a lot less subtle.

“SANS, I REFUSE TO ACCEPT YOU AS MY BROTHER!”

“heh, sorry.”, said Sans, chuckling. “i couldn’t let the opportunity go to waste. c’mon, let’s get out. there is a backdoor in here, and it leads to an alleyway. we can dismiss whoever was attacking us.”

Putting what they had found in Sans’ pockets, they headed out from the drug store and walked silently through the alleyway. When they reached the street, they didn’t walk in immediately. Keeping their backs against the wall, the trio listened to any source of noise that could indicate danger, but couldn’t hear anything, just the deadly silence of a lost city.

Frisk peeked from the corner, trying to spot signs of humans or monsters. He figured it was very possible that humans had built a resistance group there, and that meant monsters could attack too. He couldn’t shake the feeling they just happened to arrive during the calm between storms.

“see anything?”, asked Sans.

“No. I think it’s safe.”, answered Frisk. “Where are we going anyway?”

“somewhere we can get food. like a market or something like that.”

“Alright. Just to be safe, walk close to the shops. If anything happens, we enter.”

Sans and Papyrus nodded. Taking a deep breath to calm his nerves, Frisk stepped on the street, and the two followed him.

They were in a commercial zone of the city. There were all sorts of small shops there, and each and every one of them was destroyed. It was hard to believe that, only two days before, that part of town was probably buzzing with people shopping.

Frisk saw a clothes store and looked down to his shirt. It was still stained with Mrs. Magda’s blood, now dried permanently against the fabric. He had almost forgotten it, but looking at the stain reactivated the memory – the horrified face she made when she was hit, the smell of blood, the feeling of hopelessness...

_BANG_!

Suddenly, there was a loud noise of gunshot, and the three stopped dead on their tracks. Frisk’s instinct was telling him to run inside somewhere, but as more gunshots were heard, he noticed they were coming from another street.

Only there was also another noise joining them this time – some sort of buzz. The human was too familiar now with the sound of magic being fired to mistake it. They reached the corner of the street and peeked in, trying to get an idea what was going on.

The battle was happening a few streets away. Frisk spotted some humans wielding firearms, shooting at something he couldn’t see. That “something” was fighting back launching magic attacks that glowed a hazardous purple.

“hey, look.”, Sans tapped Frisk’s shoulder and pointed at a department store in the other direction. “ya think we can find food there?”

“Maybe.”, said Frisk. “It’s worth a shot.”

“then let’s go. while they are busy.”

Sans ran to the other side, and Papyrus followed him closely. Frisk looked at the battle once again – the participants were, indeed, too busy to notice anything, or even bother with it. He followed the skeletons and entered the department store. The other two looked at him when he entered.

“this looks more promising.”, said Sans.

Frisk looked around. In the very least, the place was huge. They were behind a line of cash desks, and after them, lines and lines of shelves were at display. There had to be something they could take there.

“ok, let’s find some food and search for other things that might be useful.”, said Sans. “frisk, you and i will loot the place. pap, you keep an eye out for movement outside, ok? just shout if anything happens.”

“OKAY, LEAVE IT TO ME! I’LL SHOUT AS BEST AS I CAN!”, said a determined Papyrus.

“Cool.”, said Frisk. “Let’s go.”

Accompanied by the noise of gunshots and magic outside, he and Sans split up and started searching the store. A lot of the products had already been taken, but there were still a fair amount left. Frisk picked up some chocolate bars and beef jerky and stuffed it in his pockets – a good start, he had to admit.

Later, he found a razor. It remembered him the box he used to keep under his bed at the orphanage, and he picked it up. The razor was new, and he found himself fumbling his hair with his other hand. He always liked it long and messy, but an idea was beginning to form in his mind. He held onto it.

As he passed through the shelves, he picked up anything that he found it could be useful – a lighter, a flashlight, a water bottle... soon, his pockets were full and he couldn’t carry anything else.

He didn’t know how he came across the fashion segment of the store. Normally, he’d pass by it without paying attention, but something caught his eye: a t-shirt, his size, with purple and blue stripes.

Huh, it had been some time since he wore one of these. They were always fashionable, weren’t they?

Just as he finished exchanging his dirty and bloody shirt for the new one, he heard a familiar voice behind him.

“feeling nostalgic, bud?”

Frisk turned around. Sans was there, grinning as usual, leaning against a shelf.

“You know I’m not.”, answered the human. “Have you found anything?”

“yep. some food bars and water bottles.”, said Sans, shrugging. “oh, and these.”

He turned his back at him to show three black, empty backpacks he was wearing.

“Wow, these are great!”, said Frisk, walking to Sans and picking one up. “But... you know Papyrus won’t accept it, right?”

“eh.”, simply said Sans. “if i insist long enough, he’ll give in. c’mon, let’s go back.”

Frisk opened the backpack and stuffed the things he picked up in, before wearing it and joining Sans on their way back. He was really happy with the results of their looting, and was thinking on a way to convince Papyrus he wasn’t a terrible person for it when he noticed he had kept walking while Sans stood behind, looking at something.

Frisk turned around. The skeleton was holding a bottle of rum in his hands, looking at the label.

“we can use this as antiseptic.”, said Sans, showing the bottle to Frisk before putting it in his backpack.

“What? Rum? Really?”, asked Frisk, skeptical.

“hey, pirates would use it all the time.”, said Sans. How he knew so much about human history, Frisk had no idea. “it’s not the best thing there is, but it might just do.”

He wasn’t entirely convinced, but in the lack of something better, he decided to trust the skeleton.

“just... don’t tell papyrus, ‘kay?”, he stated, looking Frisk in the eye. “he might... take it in the wrong way.”

He was smiling when he said that, but Frisk could see something behind it – shame, perhaps? He felt curious, but had the feeling that was part of the “story for another time”, so he let the subject drop.

The human and the skeleton walked silently to the entrance of the department store, not exchanging another word in the way. As they approached it, they spotted Papyrus walking back and forth in a straight line in front of the door, in a strong resemblance to a cartoon soldier Frisk had a faint memory of watching on television as a kid. Actually, a lot in Papyrus’ personality reminded him of cartoon characters.

“OH, THERE YOU ARE!”, said Papyrus upon seeing the other two. “AS YOU CAN SEE, I HAVE GUARDED THE ENTRANCE! NO ONE CAME THROUGH!”

“heh, couldn’t expect anything less thing from the great papyrus.”, said Sans.

“OF COURSE NOT! NYEH HEH HEH!”, stated Papyrus proudly, before noticing Frisk was wearing one backpack, while Sans was wearing two. “SANS... WHY HAVE YOU TAKEN THREE BACKPACKS? IF YOU THINK I’M GOING TO USE IT, FORGET IT!”

“wasn’t going to, bro. but, ya know, if you change your mind...”

“SANS, YOU KNOW I WON’T!”

“...  _ever_  so slightly...”, continued Sans as if his brother had said nothing. “i’ll be keeping it, ‘kay?”

Papyrus sighed, and his eye sockets made a movement that could be interpreted as eye rolling, but it was hard to tell. Meanwhile, the human looked through the glass door. The battle outside seemed to have stopped, and the city was silent once more.

“We got what we needed here.”, said Frisk, turning to face the two skeletons. “Where do we go now?”

He looked at Sans. For some reason, he was always expecting them to come up with some sort of direction. Papyrus looked at his brother, and Frisk knew he expected the same.

The shorter skeleton noticed the attention on him, but tried to play it cool.

“welp, it’s obvious undyne’s forces are a step ahead of us, geographically speaking. resting in the woods was a smart move.”, said Sans. “now, we have to be really careful with what we do next. we can’t be found by undyne, but we can’t lose her either.”

Frisk started to feel nervous, and clenched his fists. He knew exactly what Sans meant, and didn’t like it. But he couldn’t run away: these were  _his_ mistakes, and he was going to face the consequences.

“I agree.”, said Frisk. “We should keep going, then. Undyne is only moving forward. If we had a map of sorts...”

Sans winked at the human before unzipping his backpack and pulling a big map of the region. He laid it on the floor, and the three sat around it.

“so, now we are here.”, said Sans, pointing at the map. “the next town is there.”, he pointed to another place at the map. “from my calculations, undyne has already reached ‘there’, which means we have to move as soon as possible.”

“We can’t take her on now.”, pointed Frisk. “I mean, we are not prepared, and I wouldn’t be much help, to be honest.”

“WHAT DO YOU MEAN, HUMAN?”, said Papyrus. “YOU ALWAYS GO SO WELL WITH THESE THINGS! I’M SURE WE CAN REASON WITH UNDYNE!”

Frisk felt his face fall, and tried to conceal it. Papyrus would believe there was another way until the very last second. Actually, they would believe it far past the clock had ticked out.

The human was sure Sans knew that _fighting_ was the only means to stop Undyne’s war on humanity. Why were the two so different from each other?

Before he could dwell on the matter for much longer, he caught something moving from the corner of his eye, and he instinctively stood up. Sans did it too, tensed up. Papyrus didn’t seem to notice anything, and looked confused to the other two.

“you saw it too, right?”, said Sans, his voice dangerously calm.

Frisk nodded.

“WHAT IS GOING ON?”, joined Papyrus. “SEE WHAT?”

“as great as you are, bro...”, said Sans, his pupils rapidly scanning the room. “i think someone might have passed your watch on the door.”

Papyrus seemed to take that as a personal offense.

“ARE YOU... ARE YOU... IMPLYING I...”, the taller skeleton was at loss for words. “ _SLEPT_  DURING MY JOB!?

“ _what_? no!”, said Sans, still trying to find indications of suspicious activity around them. “i mean that...”

There was a noise of a can rolling on the ground, and the trio looked in the direction it came from.

Someone was there.

The figure was obscured by shadows, and for a moment it seemed almost unsure of what to do now that it had been caught, but it quickly recomposed, stepping onto the light. Frisk opened his mouth in surprise.

“Human!”, said the monster kid. “You are under arrest as prisoner of war, and will be taken to Undyne. Surrender now, or there will be consequences!” 


	6. Necessary Tension

In a certain way, it was funny. Most people would be amused if they met an acquaintance after a long time. Maybe they wouldn’t talk much, but they would certainly acknowledge each other. If they were friendly, a good, lighthearted conversation was a real possibility.

Nobody expects death threats in these situations.

Frisk opened his mouth, but closed it again. What was he going to say? What could he say to get him out of it? He feared for the worst: the time had come. The time to fight.

“sorry, kiddo.”, said Sans, cautiously. “i don’t think the human is suicidal enough to just deliver themselves like that.”

Frisk looked at the skeleton brothers. Sans’ posture was a relaxed one, but Frisk knew they were ready to either fight or run away, if necessary. Papyrus looked in confusion from Sans to Frisk, and from Frisk to the monster kid.

The reptilian monster’s face twitched a bit with the shorter skeleton’s response, and once again Frisk saw a hint of insecurity in their portrayal.

“Well, don’t play smart with me!”, they responded, recomposing. “I know who you are! You are the traitors who were helping the human! You are coming along!”

Their voice was raspy, but clearly masculine, and Frisk concluded they were male. It was never clear to him when they were a child due to their high-pitched voice.

The monster tried to look angry, and it was a look that didn’t quite fell together on his face.

“oh, that’s an interesting offer, let me think about it.”, said Sans. “ummm... nope. not interested. but if you offer some ketchup i might reconsider it.”

Frisk was having a hard time believing that he was facing the same monster he had once shared an umbrella with. The same monster who’d trip and fall all the time due to clumsiness, increased by the lack of arms. The same monster that defended him from Undyne, and now was fighting for her. That was the same monster who killed a human in front of him, and now was threatening him. He should feel angry, didn’t he? After all, that was the monster who took Mrs. Magda life away like it didn’t matter. Maybe Undyne was the one who commanded that, but it was them who did the dirty work.

And still...

Something inside Frisk told him there was something _off_ with that whole story. He had the urge to speak. Say Anything. He could do it – he could appeal to their good side.

“You don’t have to do this.”, said the human.

“Sorry, but that wasn’t a question.”, said the yellow monster. “It was an order! This is your last chance before I use force!”

Frisk’s mind was racing. He was afraid he’d say something wrong and trigger combat, and that was the last thing he wanted. He could almost feel his determination deflating – and it was pathetic.

“CHILD...”, finally said Papyrus, his voice loud, but calm.

“I’m not a child!”, monster kid replied, fiercely. “I’m a soldier! Don’t you dare talk to me like that!”

“OK, OK! SORRY, SIR!”, quickly corrected Papyrus. “BUT THERE IS NO NEED TO FIGHT! WE CAN SORT THIS OUT!”

“Oh yeah, we can. You surrender and nobody gets hurt. That’s your deal!”

“PLEASE, CH... SIR, HEAR ME OUT!”, continued Papyrus, a hint of desperation in his voice. “UNDYNE IS NOT... USING HER BEST JUDGEMENT LATELY. THE HUMAN DOESN’T DESERVE THAT.”

The reptilian monster stomped on the ground when he heard this.

“He _doesn’t_ deserve!? Do you know... know what he did? He killed our king... and our queen... tried to leave us leaderless to destabilize us... but it turned out wrong, huh?”

They faced Frisk once again, looking him in the eye. Frisk saw it. That look... something was not right with it. It didn’t fit quite well to someone who was trying to be bold and fierce.

“I KNOW... HE MADE MISTAKES, BUT... HE’S TRYING TO BE BETTER!”, said Papyrus, slowly walking forward, towards the yellow monster. “I KNOW HE IS, AND HE IS DOING SO GREAT! I BELIEVE YOU CAN DO GREAT TOO! SIR!”

“pap...”, said Sans when he noticed his brother was walking. He had been dangerously quiet for the last few moments.

“I don’t need your pity!”, replied the monster kid. “And you better stay where you are!”

“I JUST WANT TO TALK! I’M NOT GOING TO HARM YOU! SIR!”, said Papyrus, ignoring the warning.

“I don’t care! Stay w-where you are! Now!”, replied the other, and Frisk caught that hint of insecurity yet once more, this time on his voice.

“I’M HERE TO LISTEN TO YOU, TOO!”, Papyrus forced a big confident smile, still walking forward. “I CAN HELP YOU! TELL ME WHAT YOU NEED! NOW, WHERE ARE YOUR PARENTS?”

That seemed to be the last straw needed for the monster kid to lose control.

“ _Don’t_ talk about my parents!”, screamed the monster, summoning a orange glowing spear, which flew towards Papyrus.

Fortunately, the skeleton had quick reflexes and ducked to the ground just before it hit. The spear hit a shelf of the store, causing it to fall down with a loud noise.

Frisk looked from the fallen shelf to the monster. They seemed surprised by their own attack – a reaction that made the human confused.

“ _you dirty little killer._ ”, suddenly said Sans.

Frisk looked to the shorter brother. Their pupils had disappeared, giving them a menacing look. It made Frisk’s stomach turn.

“you just tried to kill my brother, didn’t ya?”, said Sans, walking towards the yellow monster decisively. They, in turn, seemed to be in shock by that reaction, and couldn’t answer.

There was something about Sans that was making Frisk feel more nervous than the presence of the monster kid. He wanted to say something, but his voice was stuck in his throat.

“kid...”, continued Sans. “ _you’re gonna have a bad time_.”

With that, the skeleton raised his arm and cast a blue magic spell to the reptilian monster. They were taken by surprise, and didn’t have time to dodge. Sans then threw his arm to his left, and the other monster was sent flying in that direction, to the back of the store. Frisk heard a sickening thud, and knew they had hit the wall with force.

“SANS..!”, screamed Papyrus.

But he was gone. With a snap of his fingers, he disappeared right in front of them.

What a convenient time for Undyne’s blockage to wear out.

Frisk was frozen in place, trying to piece together what had just happened when he heard noises of magic being cast and hitting objects in crossfire at the back of the store. He snapped out of it and ran to Papyrus, who was still sitting on the floor, with a look of disbelief on their face.

“SANS... HE...”

“Papyrus, we need to go!”, said Frisk, offering his hand to the skeleton, who simply looked at him in confusion. “We need to stop Sans!”

And that was enough. Papyrus grabbed his hand and pulled themselves up. Together, they ran to the back of the store.

By the time they reached the clothes segment, where the struggle was taking place, a lot of damage had already been done. Broken shelves, glass, mannequins, among other things, were spread across the floor. Sans was cornering monster kid, sending waves of sharp bones to them. They barely had time to escape and couldn’t counterattack.

“SANS! STOP THAT!”, yelled Papyrus.

The shorter brother didn’t listen, and instead summoned more bones to attack. Somehow, the reptilian monster managed to escape and attempted to hide behind a counter, but Sans cast his blue magic again, throwing them in full force to the opposite wall. They fell limp, and Frisk worried they had been killed, but they quickly used their legs to stand up again, with a horrified look in their eyes.

Sans turned around and started walking towards them. Frisk noticed his left eye had that eerie, blue glow again. He stopped a few feet from the other monster, who was frozen in place. They were shaking.

The skeleton snapped his fingers, and a bright, white light started to form above his head. Initially, it looked like bones making some sort of formation, but then Frisk noticed, with his heart failing a beat, that it was no ordinary formation.

It was a _skull_. A primal fear started to increase within the human, and he didn’t know why.

“SANS, NO!”, screamed Papyrus.

“DON’T YOU STAY THERE, RUN!”, yelled Frisk, his voice somehow louder than Papyrus’.

That seemed to make the monster kid snap out and run, just before a white, light-focused beam was discharged from the skull’s mouth. It pulverized the floor where it hit.

Frisk didn’t know why he had yelled to the yellow monster to run. They had killed someone in front of his eyes. They had tried to capture him.

_Or had they_?

Something definitely wasn’t right.

Sans summoned more of those skulls, each of them discharging the same powerful beam, each of them missing by inches. The skeleton started using bone attacks with the beams, and Frisk knew that monster kid couldn’t keep up with that forever.

Suddenly, a well-placed bone made the monster trip and fall to the ground. Sans summoned another skull in front of them, and it started to load its attack. Monster kid just managed to turn to face the attack, utter terror marked in every line of them.

And suddenly, Frisk recognized what was wrong.

“HUMAN, WHAT THE..!”, said Papyrus as Frisk ran to the other two monsters direction. “NO!”

But he didn’t listen.

Six years before, the then monster kid defended him from Undyne, even though they admired her deeply. It was Frisk’s turn to do the same.

“frisk.”, said Sans as the human put himself between the yellow monster and the skull, now with a totally charged attack, ready to fire. “get out of there. now.”

It was hard to see with the bright light right on his face, but he spotted Sans stopping by the skull, their eye still glowing. Frisk thought his legs were turning into jelly, but he stood in his place and shook his head.

“frisk.”, continued Sans, his voice abnormally dangerous. “they are going to kill you.”

Whatever was caught in Frisk’s throat was now gone. It had burned inside him, filling him with determination.

“Kill _me_!?”, he said, his voice full of anger. “What the hell is wrong with you, Sans!? Look at his face, he’s terrified!”

“he better be. he’s a coward. cowards fear death.”

“He hasn’t attacked since you started this.”, replied Frisk, his voice now in a normal tone. “Please. Everybody is okay. There is no need to dirty your hands with dust.”

Sans made a noise that Frisk interpreted as a dry laugh.

“my hands are already dirty with blood. dust will just add to the mix.”, said Sans, darkly.

“Then you know how bad it feels, right?”, continued the human. “You don’t want this. I don’t want this, too.”

“SANS...”, said Papyrus, reaching his brother and touching their shoulder. “LET THEM GO.”

A few moments passed with no one saying anything, Frisk still standing between the charged skull and the monster kid. Then, the eerie glow vanished from Sans’ eye, and his pupils reappeared. He had a blank expression. The skull’s bright light started to fade, until the skull itself dissolved.

Frisk sighed with relief, putting his hand on his heart, his heartbeats high. He turned to face the yellow monster. They had their mouth opened, and looked to the human with a confused expression.

“THANKS, SANS.”, said Papyrus, his voice trembling a bit. “I KNEW... I KNEW YOU’D DO THE RIGHT THING.”

Sans made an uninterested mumble and shoved his hands back into his pockets.

“Sans...”, said Frisk, looking at them, but the skeleton made a sign for him to stop talking.

“don’t.”, he had a serious expression that didn’t quite fit. “i don’t care. you deal with him now. i’ll be waiting by the entrance.”

With a snap of his fingers, Sans teleported away. Frisk looked at Papyrus, who seemed to be just as confused. The monster kid was now standing up, his armor severely damaged due to the recent battle.

“WHAT DO WE DO NOW?”, asked Papyrus, trying to sound cool but failing. Tension was still high in the air.

“I don’t know.”, said Frisk, looking at the monster kid. “If we let you go, will you tell Undyne about us?”

The reptilian monster looked the other way, avoiding eye contact. Normally, that would be interpreted as someone trying to avoid the question, but to Frisk it seemed that it was more because they were embarrassed than anything.

“WHAT IF WE KEEP THEM?”, suggested Papyrus. “AT LEAST FOR A WHILE?”

“Sans is not gonna like this.”, said Frisk, worried by how the shorter skeleton would take that. “But... it makes sense. I don’t trust them to wander on their own out there.”

“Oh, you are taking me as a prisoner, then?”, finally said the yellow monster, sounding defeated.

“DON’T THINK ABOUT IT LIKE THAT!”, replied Papyrus. “WE’LL BE NICE TO YOU! WELL, EXCEPT SANS. HE’S GOING TO BE NASTY! BUT WE WILL TRY TO CONVINCE HIM TO BE NICE, TOO!”

Frisk thought about telling Papyrus they weren’t making things seem good at all, but decided that wouldn’t help anything.

“I guess there is not much you can do right now.”, said Frisk to the monster kid. “You will come with us, but if you try to do anything... let’s say we won’t defend you from Sans again.”

“I...”, started Papyrus, but Frisk gave them a quick warning glance for them to choose their words wisely. “I AGREE.”, he said, instead. Good.

“Let’s go then.”, said the human. “I’ll do the talking. Papyrus, you watch them so they don’t run away.”

* * *

 

When they exited the department store, the sky was painted with tones of orange, giving the wrecked city an apocaliptic look. It was rather beautiful, in an unsettling way.

They decided it wouldn’t be wise to wander through the city in the dark, so they searched for a house or building they could stay for the night. Their anxiety was flourishing, not only because of the threat of humans or monsters attacking, but also due to the recent events. Sans and Frisk lead the way, with Papyrus watching the monster kid over.

Eventually, they found an abandoned house in a suburban area. It had been hit by the crossfire of the war, but it was in nicest conditions than most houses they had passed by. Opening the front door, the four entered the residence, and stood by the entrance hall.

Frisk knew someone had lived in that house until recently, so the place was still looking somewhat livable, despite the broken shelves and the stuff that fell on the floor, probably during the heat of the war. From the hall, Frisk could see glances of the living room and the kitchen. The size of the dining table made him conclude they were inside what was once a family house.

“Do you think there is anyone here?”, whispered Frisk.

“dunno.”, said Sans. “we gotta check. pap and undyne’s brat stay here, you and i split up and search for anything suspicious. i’ll take this floor, you go upstairs.”

Frisk didn’t like the idea of searching for potential threat alone, but wouldn’t complain. Besides, it was the first time Sans said anything after they left the department store.

The human was right: Sans didn’t like the idea of bringing the monster kid along at all. After some persuasion from both him and Papyrus (“ _YOU GOTTA GIVE HIM A SECOND CHANCE, SANS! YOU GOTTA!_ ”), the skeleton let them do it. Nevertheless, Frisk had the impression Sans was giving him the silent treatment ever since. Not only that, but they were also abnormally serious, not even holding that characteristic grin they had almost all the time.

With those thoughts in mind, he climbed upstairs on the tip of his toes, taking care not to make much noise. The place was quiet, but someone could be hiding as well. Every time he opened a door, a closet, or looked under a bed, his heart raced.

In the end, there wasn’t much to look at – just three bedrooms and a bathroom. He found some photos in the bedrooms, and learned that house was once home for a family of four – they looked happy. Frisk wondered if they were alright, if they had escaped. He thought about how the kids probably felt when they saw monsters attacking everybody.

Somehow, it reminded him of the kids from his orphanage. He could only hope they were okay.

He climbed back downstairs, and found Sans waiting for him at the bottom of it.

“All clear.”, he said.

“same.”, the other replied. “we can spend the night here.”

“WOWIE!”, said Papyrus, cheerfully. “THAT’S GREAT!”

“yeah, but we gotta take care of some stuff first.”, said Sans. “frisk, how many rooms are there upstairs?”

“Three bedrooms and a bathroom.”, answered the human, a bit surprised by the question. “Why?”

“we need a place to... y’know... secure ‘him’.”, he indicated the yellow monster with a small motion with his head, not looking at them.

Reality hit Frisk, and he struggled to maintain a neutral expression.

“Oh. Right”, he said, clearing his throat. “You, come here.”, he completed, directed to the monster kid, who in turn simply nodded and accompanied the group as they climbed upstairs again.

They indicated to monster kid enter the smallest bedroom – a young child bedroom – and as soon as they did, Sans raised barriers of blue bones, blocking the door and the windows. The bones were placed in a bar-like fashion, simulating the type of bars used in prisons. It made Frisk feel bad, but he knew it had to be done.

“DON’T WORRY!”, said Papyrus, smiling through the bars to the monster who was now trapped. “WE’LL GIVE YOU FOOD!”

“not mine.”, mumbled Sans, going downstairs.

“NOT SANS’! BUT THE HUMAN AND I WILL SHARE SOME WITH YOU!”

“We can’t eat much as our food is limited.”, explained Frisk. “We’ll look around the house and see if we find anything, but even then we have to ration.”

The yellow monster simply nodded again, then turned around and sat on the bed, looking at their surroundings. With that, Frisk and Papyrus both went downstairs to join Sans.

They found some crackers and, to their surprise, fresh fruit in the house, and decided to eat them there. Frisk shared some with monster kid, leaving a package of crackers through the bars. He was laying on the bed, and the human couldn’t tell if he was sleeping or merely relaxing.

Over the dining table, the trio decided to keep their original plan: they’d get out of town and proceed to the next one, following Undyne’s track. They’d also decide what to do with their new “prisoner” by morning. Not much was said afterwards, with each of them basically eating their rations for the day silently.

Now, that silence was by far the most uncomfortable one.

As the night continued, and Papyrus started yawning, they concluded it was time to turn in. Sans would start the shift that time around, and he’d keep watch on the first floor. Both the taller skeleton and Frisk then returned to the upper floor. The human took the other child’s bedroom, while Papyrus took the parents bedroom.

Frisk lost count of the time. That night, he was laying down on the most comfortable bed he had already been in his entire life, yet he couldn’t sleep. He shifted sides, trying to settle down and fall asleep, but his head was too busy to let that happen. After what seemed an eternity, he gave up and sat by the side of the bed, an idea forming in his head. He grabbed a flashlight and exited to the corridor.

He couldn’t turn the lights of the house on – firstly, he didn’t know if they worked. Secondly, it could attract unwanted attention from outside, and that was the last thing they needed.

He stood in front of the barrier of bones, looking into the room the monster kid was in. They were laying down in the bed, moonlight shining on them since the window was open. The bones by the windows cast vertical shadows through the room – it really did seem like a prison.

The human kept watching through the bars during some time, unsure of what to do. He then saw them shift sides a couple times.

“You awake?”, asked Frisk hesitantly, his voice in a soft tone.

The yellow monster stopped shifting. Then, he sat on the bed and looked at Frisk, blinking a couple times.

“What do you want?”, he asked.

“Just talk.”

The monster sighed, and stood up, walking to face Frisk through the bone barrier. He had dropped his armor off, revealing he used some sort of fabric wrapped around his body. It was orange, with some black details. Around his neck region (which was hard to tell, since he had no shoulders or arms), the human noticed a necklace, with a small pendant which contained a vial with some kind of orange powder.

“I’m impressed you haven’t tried to run away yet.”, commented Frisk.

“Are you crazy?”, the monster replied. “I’m not doing that. Not with... _him_ on the shift, anyway.”

Frisk knew that they wouldn’t forget about Sans so easily after the episode on the department store, and sincerely, he couldn’t blame them. It had been a scary experience even to him – he couldn’t imagine what it felt like to be the target of the skeleton’s rage.

_Or could he_? Something was sprouting on the back of his mind. He had the feeling he had made Sans really, really angry sometime in the past, but couldn’t remember when exactly. That was odd.

“Um... you okay?”, asked the reptilian monster, noticing the human’s silence. “Dude?”

That took Frisk back to reality. Hearing them say something they used to say all the time made the human hope maybe not everything had changed over those six years.

“Yeah, I just... spaced out a bit.”, he said. The monster just looked at him, waiting for something more to be said. “Don’t worry about Sans, okay? He has this kinda... closed personality, and he can be really scary sometimes, but I know he has the heart in the right place. If he attacked you... it was because he was trying to protect his brother.”

He just kept staring at Frisk, a look of disbelief in his face that the human could see even with the pale moonlight being the only lightsource of the room.

“Look... just give him another chance okay?”, continued Frisk. “He’s good. I know you’re good, too.”

The monster gave a shy smile after hearing this, but their eyes told him they didn’t believe what he was saying.

“Frisk, right?”, said the monster. “Man, I killed...”

“I know.”, interrupted Frisk. “Me too. And my kills brought doom to both humans and monsters. I’m not innocent in this. I can’t start all over again, but I’m trying to fix it where I can. I’m trying to do better. You can do it too.”

The yellow monster sighed. They weren’t entirelly convinced, but Frisk thought that hearing that would make them feel better, eventually.

“So, I don’t really know your name.”, he said. “I always called you ‘monster kid’ in my head. What’s your name?”

They made a strange noise. Was it a chuckle? It sounded genuine, at least.

“’Monster Kid’.”, they replied.

“I know it’s stupid.”, said Frisk, a bit embarassed. “I was a kid too, what did you expect?”

“No, not that! My name is, literally, ‘Monster Kid’. My first name is ‘Monster’ and my last name is ‘Kid’.”

Frisk didn’t mean to, but he couldn’t avoid bursting into laughter. He had to try to muffle it when he heard Papyrus mumble something about forgetting the spaghetti in the microwave.

“It’s not funny!”, they said, but they were laughing too. “A-anyway, I prefer people to just call me ‘MK’, nowadays. Blame my parents for choosing such a stupid name.”

“Where are your parents?”, asked Frisk as soon as his laughter died.

Suddenly, MK’s expression turned darker. Frisk regretted making that question – he already knew the answer.

“They died.”, they simply said. “As soon as the barrier broke down and we invaded the nearest city. They never found the remains of my dad, but they did find mom’s dust. They gave me this.”

They indicated the pendant on their necklace. So that wasn’t any ordinary orange powder – it was their mother’s dust. Frisk thought it was a bit weird to carry the remains of your relatives around, but he guessed that was probably because of culture shock.

“And by ‘they’, you mean...”

“A couple of Royal Guard’s soldiers. Greater Dog. Lesser Dog. Dogami, Dogaressa.” replied MK. “I’m sure you remember them. Dogami and Dogaressa died shortly after.”

Frisk felt something sick on his stomach. Of course he remembered.

How many more had to die because of his stupid mistakes?

“Sorry.”, they said. “I didn’t mean to make you feel bad.”

“No, that’s alright.”, said Frisk. “Uh, I’m an orphan too.”

“What happened to your folks?”, they asked.

“Never knew my dad. My mother died when I was really young. I was raised at this crappy orphanage.”, answered the human.

“I’m sorry to hear that, man.”

“I’m sorry about your parents, too.”

They stood there, not exchanging another word. That time, however, the silence was more companionable, and Frisk appreciatted it.

Then, they heard someone climbing the stairs. MK tensed up, knowing who it was. Frisk merely turned around. Sans stopped at the top, glancing at Frisk and then at the imprisoned monster.

“oh, so that chit-chat came from you.”, said Sans, sounding uninterested. “frisk, it’s your turn on the shift, but before that i wanna have a word with you. can you... come to the first floor with me for a sec?”

Frisk looked at MK, who nodded in acceptance. He then followed Sans to the first floor.

They stepped into the entrance hall, bathed by the moonlight. Sans stood by the window, looking at the night sky. Frisk merely stood behind, waiting for whatever the skeleton wanted to say.

“i... wanna apologize.”, he said, finally. “things are weird between us. i don’t want it to stay like this.”

He didn’t turn around to look at Frisk, which annoyed them for some reason.

“Me neither. But you were pretty freaky back at the department store.”

“i know, i know.”, said Sans. He sounded tired, with the slightest hint of remorse. “i didn’t mean to scare ya, bud. sorry.”

He still was with his back turned to Frisk, not even looking at the sky anymore. The human was disappointed by that apology – without looking in the eyes, the skeleton could as well be lying. They resisted the temptation to tell him to turn around, and decided to take the apology instead.

“It’s fine.”

Sans seemed to relax a bit.

“i also want to talk about the undyne’s soldier.”

“I’d prefer if you didn’t call him that.”, said Frisk, coldly. “His name is Monster Kid.”

Normally, the skeleton would joke about that fact, but even he could tell there was no mood for jokes at the time.

“ok, whatever.”, he simply said. “i really don’t think it was a smart idea to bring him along.”

Frisk prefered not to make any comments about the matter, and waited for Sans to continue.

“but hey, i said i wasn’t gonna judge, so i won’t.”

“ _Funny_.”, said Frisk, his annoyance sounding clear in his voice. “For someone who says all the time they don’t judge, you seem to judge a lot.”

“he tried to kill papyrus.”

“You tried to kill him, too.”

“he killed someone...”

“So did I!”

“...yesterday. in front of your eyes. you forgot?”, continued Sans, his voice as calm as ever. “you knew that woman, right?”

Frisk bit his tongue, holding his instinct to curse the skeleton. No, oh, no... he was better than that. He was.

“That’s none of your business.”, he said instead.

“eh, so be it. i just think... you are being reckless, frisk. and after all the trouble papyrus and i went through to save you, acting stupid is really ungrateful of your part.”

Frisk wasn’t ready for that. He gasped, now getting angry. He clenched his fists.

“I... I just...”, he tried to say. “Have you looked at him? Have you talked to him? Have you... _goddammit_ Sans, could you please turn around and look at my face when you talk to me!?”

With that, the skeleton finally turned around. They had a serene expression. Frisk thought for a slight moment how he probably looked like, and felt like his anger was showing up in every line of his face.

“i’m just telling you to be careful. i worry about you too.”, they said.

“Oh, you worry about me!?”, said Frisk, finally losing control. “You don’t care about ANYTHING! Or ANYONE! Hell, you don’t even care about  _yourself_! All you care about is Papyrus!”

Sans remained with a neutral expression, merely watching Frisk screaming. It made the human even more upset.

“So don’t pretend you care!”, he continued. “I won’t buy it. I know you are helping me because by helping me, you are helping Papyrus. You selfish trashbag.”

Something that Frisk said seemed to have gotten through Sans. He noticed their expression getting confused, maybe slightly shocked, but they quickly recomposed, giving a sigh.

“i’m sorry you see me like that.”, said the skeleton, sounding a bit hurt. It made Frisk’s anger go down, even if just by a little bit. “i just don’t wanna bad things to happen. to pap _or_ to you. anyway, i’ll leave it on your hands. you’ll decide what we’ll do with the un... um... brat. i’ll trust your judgement here.”

The skeleton stretched, his bones popping a bit when he did so.

“welp, i’ll go to bed now.”, he said, passing by Frisk and climbing the stairs. “see ya.”

And just like that, Frisk was all alone on the first floor. For a while, he walked from room to room, trying to calm his nerves. He only managed to think of things he wished he had said to Sans. That stupid skeleton – who did they think they were?

Whoa, but feeling angry was _tiring_. He sat down on the couch at the living room, letting himself relax.

* * *

 

He woke up to the light of the rising sun that entered through the window. He yawned, scratching his head, sitting on the couch of the living room, where he had slept.

Oh _, crap_ – he had slept on his shift. Quickly standing up, Frisk climbed the stairs to check the rooms to see if the others were okay.

Both Sans and Papyrus were sleeping sound. Sans in particular was all tangled up in some blankets he had found. The human sighed, relieved, and entered the room where MK was to check on him.

Wait... _the bone bars_. He wasn’t supposed to be able to enter the room. They were gone.

MK was gone.

His heart sunk. Their armor had been left behind, pieces of it scattered on the floor. Just as his brain attempted to make sense out of the situation, he heard the noise of a door closing on the first floor.

Jumping some of the steps, Frisk ran down the stairs, and opened the front door of the house.

MK was only a few steps from it, and slowly turned around when he heard the front door opening, with a guilty expression. Frisk just stood by the entrance.

“Hey.”, the human said. It was the best he’d come up with.

“Hey.”, replied the monster, avoiding eye contact.

They both stood in silence for a while. Frisk had no idea what to do.

“You running away?”, he asked.

MK seemed nervous about that. They looked to the ground.

“I-I... I won’t tell Undyne. O-or anyone.”, they said. “Man, I... I don’t even think I can face Undyne e-ever again. She would know about this, and I’m not sure she...”

They couldn’t complete the thought. Frisk felt sympathetic. Somehow, he felt in his heart they weren’t lying – they had left their armor behind, after all.

And just like that, he made his decision.

“Well, it looks like I caught you.”, he said, crossing his arms and smiling. “I guess you’ll just have to come with us.”

MK looked up, confused. He clearly wasn’t expecting that.

“I... uh... you... _dude_... uh...”

“You don’t have any choice in this.”, said Frisk. “You are our prisoner, so you will do as I say.”

The monster blinked sometimes, seemingly trying to find something to say. They were clearly moved by the human’s offer. Frisk thought they were going to cry, but they turned around before he could conclude anything.

“I...”, they said, their voice shaky. “Thank you, Frisk. Dude. But I... don’t think this will work.”

“We can make it work.”, replied Frisk, trying to sound confident.

“Why are you doing this?”, asked the monster. “I deserve a lot of things, and forgiveness isn’t one of them.”

“I don’t know if that’s true, but... c’mon, MK. Nobody deserves to be alone out there. I believe in you. Come with us.”

“I tried to _kill you_.”, he stated, his voice heavy with emotion. “You can’t change that.”

“Maybe not.”, replied the human. “But have you ever really _wanted_ to kill anyone? I’d have a hard time believing that.”

“No, but...”

“Then, I can give you another chance. I’m not saying you are a victim of the circumstances, but I haven’t forgotten you are the same monster who saved me from Undyne all those years ago. I can’t believe you’d go all evil after that. No – I know you can do better. Besides, we are together in this now, MK. So join us. Please.”

The yellow monster turned around again. Frisk was right: there were tears on his face, but he was smiling. A genuine, sincere smile.

“I guess...” he said. “I-it would be nice.”

Frisk’s smile grew wider. He knew he’d made something good. He was sure that was the right decision, no matter what Sans or any other had to say.

“WOWIE! IS HE COMING ALONG!?”, a loud, piercing voice was heard behind Frisk, and the human turned around. Sans and Papyrus were standing there. Papyrus was beaming, and Sans, for whatever reason, was grinning too. The shorter skeleton was holding the three backpacks.

Papyrus passed by Frisk and started patting MK on the head.

“YAY! WELCOME TO THE CREW! WHAT’S YOUR NAME?”, said Papyrus.

“Um... call me MK.”, replied the other monster, still smiling.

“OKAY, MK! I AM THE GREAT PAPYRUS! I’LL DO THE VERY BEST I CAN TO PROTECT YOU, SO DON’T WORRY!”

MK chuckled, and Frisk smiled. On that moment, they reminded him of the very same monster kid he met in the Underground six years before.

“made your decision, huh.”, said Sans, standing besides Frisk and passing him his backpack. Frisk wore it.

“Yeah.”, he said. After some sleep, Frisk didn’t feel angry at Sans anymore – to be honest, he was slightly embarrassed. He wanted to apologize, but had no idea how to do it.

“i’m not gonna lie to ya, this wouldn’t have been the decision i’d make.”, said the skeleton. “but i have faith in yours.”

Frisk looked at MK and Papyrus talking. That same hope he had felt the day before was returning to him, now bigger than ever. His determination was fully restored.

“Me too.”, said the human. Sans smiled and patted Frisk’s back in a friendly manner, before proceeding to join his brother.

Somehow, in the midst of a ruthless war that was taking place, Frisk learned there was happiness to be found. Yes, happiness, in small moments like those. Maybe they wouldn’t last long, but if he could enjoy them, if he could remember them, he’d have the strength needed to go on. After all, forward was the only way to go.

Frisk joined the group, and the four started to make their way out of town, the rising sun right in front filling them with determination.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> END OF PART I.  
> Thanks so much to all who have read everything! The story continues on the next part, "Phantom Memories". Click on the little arrow next to the series name below to access it!


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